


Three of a Kind

by Fianna9, gatekat



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Broken Gestalt Bonds, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mildly Dubious Consent, Prostitution, Threesome - F/M/M, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:33:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 44,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21839770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fianna9/pseuds/Fianna9, https://archiveofourown.org/users/gatekat/pseuds/gatekat
Summary: Breakdown escapes when his gestalt gets on the wrong side of Megatron, but how to survive? Find some new protectors. He really had no idea there were Autobots like these.
Relationships: Breakdown/Sideswipe/Sunstreaker, Chromia/Ironhide, Inferno/Red Alert, Sideswipe/Sunstreaker
Comments: 33
Kudos: 97





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> nanoklik = 1/8 second;  
> klik = 496 nanokliks/62 seconds;  
> breem = 8 kliks/8.27 minutes;  
> groon = 9 breem/1.24 hours;  
> joor = 6 groon/7.44 hours;  
> orn = 42 joor/13.02 days;  
> decaorn = 32 orns/1.14 years;  
> metacycle = 8 decaorn/9.22 years;  
> vorn = 9 metacycles/72 decaorn/83 years;  
> ::text:: comm chatter  
> ~text~ hardline/bond chatter

Breakdown kept glancing around the room watching for the trouble that inevitably happened when Megatron decided to call all the Decepticons together to give an inspiring speech. Something was bound to set off his temper and lead to all kinds of trouble. Whether it happened when Megatron noticed Swindle distracting Astrotrain with some kind of deal or it would explode out once Starscream made a snide comment about the topic was yet to be seen. Breakdown tried to slip back behind the Constructicons to avoid attention but Motormaster's glare caused him to scurry back to his gestalt and toward Dead End. He was the least likely to attack, but he'd be little help in an actual fight within the gestalt.

"Everything is going to the Pit tonight," the Porsche said barely budging as Breakdown squeezed behind him to hide from the cruel optics surrounding them.

"Just a question of which Pit," Breakdown contained his shiver. Showing weakness in this room was a _Bad Thing_ to do.

Right on cue was Megatron and the grand speech began. For a moment it felt soothing. His leader was charismatic. His leader had a plan. Everything was planned out. Maybe, just maybe, it would be okay.

He should have known better. Even before Starscream could shake off Thundercracker's hand and start his usual rant Motormaster had to open his mouth and attracted everyone's attention to them.

"Megatron, your glory days are over. I challenge you to lead the Decepticons!" the burly semi bellowed.

"Oh, slag," Breakdown muttered under his breath as his worst fear came true. Instinct no longer hampered by Motormaster's glare had him by the door before the full room had really grasped what was doing down. He stayed there, ready to be at Motormaster's side or hit his wheels based on the winner. He might have been noticed if not for the scramble of mecha every which way to clear the space between the two and the space behind Motormaster for any stray or through-shot.

Wildrider and Dragstrip were stuck on the other side of Motormaster acting like they were flanking him as support. Their two psychotic teammates were almost enjoying the drama and obviously hadn't given a thought to the possible consequences.

"Face it: either way we're doomed," Dead End almost sighed from a spot far too close to him.

Normally Breakdown would have cursed having someone nearby trying to draw attention, but Dead End always talked like that so no one would notice him. Hopefully. Who was he kidding; everyone who mattered knew where right where he was as Motormaster and Megatron faced off and Megatron's canon whirred to life, obliteration glowing in its depths. It was Motormaster that moved first, his sword drawn as he charged with a careless faith in his invulnerability.

Breakdown knew better; not dodging Megatron was suicidal recklessness. Hadn't Motormaster crashing into Optimus Prime resulted in massive damage to his gestalt leader? Not that he'd ever remind Motormaster of that incident. He could be vicious when reminded of failure...or when online. Anyway Megatron faced Optimus on a regular basis and fought him to a standstill or occasionally beat him. Dead End was right. They were doomed. 

Instead of a quick end by fusion cannon Megatron punched Motormaster first, sending the gestalt leader flat and skidding back several lengths.

"Submit and I'll let you live," Megatron rumbled before aiming his cannon. 

Apparently Motormaster had bent to Megatron too often for his own pride although there had been no indication over the faint gestalt bond that he was going to snap like this. To Breakdown's horror their ruthless gestalt leader tried to lunge at Megatron screaming, "I'm done following a useless leader." 

He was driving before the cannon finished firing. In full flight mode by the time the first gestalt bond snapped. By the time anyone thought to look for him he was outside the base and driving for his spark without a thought in his processor beyond _escape_.

Two more gestalt bonds snapped as Wildrider and Dragstrip were struck down and offlined. They'd been foolish enough to get caught away from the door and probably were torn apart by Decepticons proving their loyalty to Megatron. It never crossed Breakdown's processor to try to beg for his existence like Starscream did whenever he challenged Megatron's power. Starscream led the Seekers and had a purpose in the Decepticon Army. With Motormaster gone the Stunticons were useless, and Decepticons didn't allow useless things to survive. He could feel the jets coming for him; their engines roaring as they zeroed in on his racing frame. 

He knew this was how he'd end, racing for his spark and shot apart. 

Dead End was sent to his end first. 

Breakdown was the last of his gestalt but he wasn't really aware of it. He knew being fired on and he knew to _drive_.

Dodging fire from above wasn't any different from dodging the fragging Aerialbots. It was almost easier because the trines were more predictable in their course and targeting. It was too predictable. They were driving him into a trap. He had to get away from here. A massive tank charged toward him as he searched frantically for another escape route. Fraggin' Blitzwing plotting an ambush? Starscream had to be here after him. He rammed Blitzwing and kept going.

* * *

Mirage listened with half an audio as Sunstreaker ranted about what this patrol was going to do to his paint job and the necessary trip to the wash rack to get rid of all this dust. An occasional comment of agreement was all it took to keep the accusations away from himself.

The sound of multiple engines and shots approaching caught both of their attention. 

::Command, we have a battle up ahead.:: Mirage commed the Ark.

"Finally! Something to do," Sunstreaker growled as he charged off toward the sounds.

::There are no friendlies in your area. Proceed with caution; back up is on its way,:: Blaster replied proving that Soundwave was not in the area. 

Mirage sped up as well though he fully intended to do more sniping and sabotage than fighting. He didn't even try to slow Sunstreaker down as they rushed towards what looked like a Decepticon free for all at first.

The Coneheads were strafing a mostly white race car streaking weaving down the road being chased by Blitzwing in tank mode who fired another shot before transforming back into a jet and flying after Breakdown peppering the road with blaster fire. The Stunticon was surprising agile for someone who usually just rammed through the opposition.

::Blaster, confirmed sighting of Blitzwing, the Coneheads and Breakdown. No other Stunticons currently in view,:: Mirage relayed as he took position. This was already a lot of firepower for two Autobots, and if the rest of the Stunticons showed up they'd be seriously outgunned.

::The Aerialbots are alerted,:: Blaster confirmed. ::I'd say hold your position but I know it won't happen. Fight smart.::

::Understood.:: Mirage replied as he did his best to cover Sunstreaker as the warrior went for Blitzwing.

A shot through part of Thrust's left wing distracted him from joining the fray. Sunstreaker's leap onto the triple-changer could have been disastrous, but Dirge and Ramjet continued to chase Breakdown who showed no signs of stopping to help fight Sunstreaker. Ramjet charged straight at Breakdown ending in a crash against the Stunticon's notorious force field. The race car appeared uninjured but was partially knocked off the road by the force of the impact. 

Mirage kept track of them but focused on helping Sunstreaker survive until backup arrived. Blitzwing tried to throw Sunstreaker off his frame not willing to transform and expose vulnerable parts to the frontliner's claws. Spinning he charged toward Dirge bellowing, "Shoot him off me then we'll rip the miserable traitor apart!"

That made Dirge Mirage's prime target and he took a single careful shot that sheered an engine off before taking shots at the much heavier armored Blitzwing.

::Blaster. Blitzwing just said that Breakdown is a traitor,:: Mirage reported.

::I'll pass it along but it could be a trick,:: Blaster replied. ::Back-up is almost there; Silverbolt just reported that he can hear and see the combat.::

True to Blaster's word a few shots forced Thrust to peel off from an attempt to shoot at Mirage's position. Air Raid and Skydive soared past giving chase to the maroon Seeker as Silverbolt and Fireflight started a dogfight with Ramjet. Slingshot arrived shortly afterward pelting Blitzwing's right wing with a line of fire as he made his entrance. 

As the ground forces rolled close the Decepticons pulled back spitting curses and promising revenge.

::Prime. How do we stop Breakdown?:: Mirage commed his commander.

::I will,:: the big mech altered course to intercept.

The Stunticon had managed to pull himself back onto the road and tried to swerve to avoid Optimus. It was another weird reaction from one of the normally reckless racers although given every time Motormaster had failed to knock Prime out during a collision could be why he was doing it. Mirage also grimly acknowledged that Motormaster had probably threatened anyone in his gestalt who dared to challenge Prime without his permission. That Megatron had such an edict was common knowledge among the Decepticons and only a few dared ignore it.

"Breakdown. Stop." Optimus put all his authority into his voice.

Breakdown's brakes screeched as he skidded around Prime narrowly missing Trailbreaker before skidding around so that his taillights illuminated Ironhide's frame as the bodyguard transformed and took aim. "Gotta run, gotta hide," he babbled even as Trailbreaker erected his own force field around the group to try to pen in the Stunticon. 

Optimus carefully transformed and moved just a step closer. "There is no need to run from me. Why were they shooting at you?"

"You're going to offline me just like all the others!" Breakdown babbled as he tried to pull away and hit Trailbreaker's force field. Ironhide transformed as the vibrations from the revving engine sent ripples through their frames although it seemed to have been impacted by Trailbreaker's field. He continued to babble, "Gotta hide...gotta get away..." as he tried to find a way to escape from all these glaring, merciless optics. 

"We have not yet and we will not this orn," Optimus said firmly as he spotted Ratchet carefully working around to a spot where he could get close. "Why were Decepticons shooting at you?"

"Because Megatron is done with us and wants us all offlined," Breakdown said almost in disbelief at how calm Optimus was acting. He started shaking in agitation and his rambling picked up. "He's doing your job for you. Or are you going to do it for him? Of course you are. I'm a Decepticon even if they don't want me anymore. Just let me hide. I won't bother you. No, you won't believe me; no one does. You're going to offline me."

"We don't do the Decepticon's dirty work," Ironhide grumbled watching the Stunticon with distrusting optics.

"No you don't. Unless they've gotten to you," Breakdown said almost calmly before it looked like the cycle was going to start again. 

Suddenly Ratchet moved and Breakdown went still and silent on his tires. Ratchet subspaced the tool he'd used to knock the Stunticon into stasis.

"Paranoid little fragger," Ratchet huffed before he carefully went to work ensure the temporary stasis would hold until he brought the Decepticon out of it.

"He can't help it anymore than Red," Jazz's voice was nearly sympathetic. "We'll find out what's going on," he nodded to Optimus.

The Prime nodded and transformed so Breakdown's alt could be loaded into his trailer for the short drive to the Ark.

"I'm riding with Ratchet," Ironhide said stubbornly ignoring Ratchet's not so silent grumbling. "Just because he's in stasis now doesn't mean he can't cause trouble if he manages to come online. That force field quirk with his engine might be able to shake Prime's trailer apart." 

"As if I'm not better equipped to knock him out than you are," Ratchet shot back but didn't actually stop the old warrior from entering or glaring at the stasis locked mech the entire drive to the Ark's medbay.

Once they were in the medbay Ironhide moved off to the side to monitor the Stunticon. Breakdown wasn't the most dangerous member of the gestalt but he refused to underestimate him. One didn't last as long as Ironhide did by underestimating the young.

First Aid met them inside. He looked a bit more shaken than normal. "You said that he claimed his gestalt was deactivated?" 

"Yap. Jazz is going to look into confirming it but for now we're assuming he told the truth. If he's lasted this long his spark won't deactivate him," Ratchet began prepping to do a full POW-defector intake. "Given he was never remotely sane to begin with I'm not sure if it'll make it better or worse. No telling how much was living conditions and how much is innate."

"I can't imagine surviving the deactivation of my gestalt and dealing with those kinds of holes in my spark," First Aid said pausing in his work momentarily to stare at the mech who was living a gestalt's worst fear.

"Hot Spot doesn't treat you like Motormaster treated them; neither does Silverbolt," Ironhide pointed out. "Jazz said they all hated and feared Motormaster. That kind of sick bond could make almost anyone crazy."

"I'll make the diagnosis if you don't mind," Ratchet said flatly although he did not dispute Ironhide's observation. After all the preparations were completed, Ratchet looked over at First Aid. "I'll do the internal examination. I don't know how his systems will react to you." 

"Of course," First Aid backed off.

* * *

At his usual spot by Prime's side Ironhide scanned the room checking the mood of the officers. Hot Spot and Silverbolt both looked shaken by the orn's events. It was a reminder that the pair were younger than most of the Autobots. Red Alert looked extremely concerned about the situation. Really, it was amazing he was here at all given the circumstances; Inferno must have been very persuasive to get him out of the Security Office. Jazz had his usual smile firmly in place but he seemed disturbed. Prowl looked nearly ... happy. Ratchet was his usual grumpy self but he wasn't unusually upset. That meant the Decepticon was functional and likely to stay that way.

"Jazz, what did you find?" Optimus opened the meeting with the most critical information.

"He's right; all the rest of the Stunticons have been violently deactivated. Motormaster apparently challenged Megatron for leadership of the Decepticons. He refused to submit and was offlined. Once he was gone the rest of the Stunticons were considered liabilities and were hunted down and deactivated," Jazz's smile faltered a bit. "Dead End and Breakdown were both chased outside the base as they tried to escape; Dead End was offlined by Astrotrain."

"Why did Motormaster challenge Megatron? According to the reports and what we've seen he always supported Megatron during the Decepticon's dominance fights," Silverbolt looked confused. 

"When compliance coding breaks it causes all sorts of chaos," Jazz shook his helm. "It'd be the only way to control someone like Motormaster. They probably all had it. I know plenty of Cons do."

"Breakdown does although it's badly damaged. I'd say I'm amazed he survived four spark bonds breaking but I think they were the weakest bonds I've ever seen that were functional," Ratchet growled confirming the claim. He ignored winces from the two gestalt leaders as he continued with his own findings. "His glitch might have helped damage it; paranoia glitches are notorious for slowly degrading any kind of installed compliance coding. There are damaged sections of his coding that need to be fixed if he is going to have a hope of a normal existence."

"And reality only reinforced his glitch," Jazz said grimly. "Though I have wondered if it's really a glitch when the scary monster really _is_ watching you and reading your thoughts."

"How normal?" Red Alert asked to the surprise of several. "Compared to me."

"The whole gestalt fed off one another's problems in a constant dysfunctional cycle," Ratchet growled disgusted with the state the Decepticon's medics had allowed that gestalt to function under. "Even with our current limited medical supplies I can repair him closer to your level of functionality provided he has some careful social reconditioning afterwards. His past experiences are going to keep him higher strung than you. Removing his memories won't fix that and will probably make it worse so don't even think about suggesting it. I can't block all of the effects of broken spark bonds." 

"Who do you recommend being primary on his socialization effort?" Prowl asked.

"Not any of our gestalts," Ratchet said having already considered some possibilities. "I don't know if seeing the familiar but different interactions would make things worse for him. I'm going to list Inferno as a resource for learning how to settle a triggered glitch but I'm not certain he has the right temperament to be primary in this case. Breakdown is trained to be aggressive and is going to need a firm but reliable hand to give the paranoia some support. Ideally Ironhide should be involved in his rehabilitation although I don't think you should be his day-to-day caretaker given your duties to Prime. The twins would be a good choice if they have you as a back-up."

"Are we talking about actually integrating him?" Silverbolt asked looking at the officers. "He's a Decepticon and has shown no signs of wanting to change. Being forced out isn't the same thing as abandoning those views." 

"Integration or his choice to leave," Optimus nodded. "He was not one who ever had a choice. He will have it now."

"The twins?" Hot Spot questioned. "They barely behave as Autobots half the time."

"Precisely," Prowl nodded his doorwings. "They exist in the same social space he is likely to. An Autobot by allegiance but not by temperament or upbringing. With them Breakdown will be able to see it's possible to be an Autobot without being a perfect one."

"I'm going to put Bumblebee and Mirage out there too," Jazz suggested. "They're both capable of being firm, dealing with him when he flips out and showing him how to function here."

"They wouldn't be bad back-ups when the twins are on patrol or duty so he isn't confined or isolated completely, but they are known to be SpecOps which won't do much to help his paranoia," Ratchet said nodding even as he pondered the suggestion.

"He will expect us to watch him. Having them do it blatantly may help with that," Red Alert suggested having experience with the problem and reassured that Inferno was not going to be compromised. "He may latch on to someone unusual as a safety valve."

"Cliffjumper is going to flip out," Ironhide grumbled, acknowledging the reality of the situation that they were talking about accepting Breakdown into the ranks. "He'll be even worse if Breakdown is with Mirage and the twins. He'll call it proof they are Decepticon traitors."

"And he'll get brigged for fighting if he doesn't get sent to the med bay first for challenging their loyalty without just cause," Prowl answered firmly. "As with every defector we have taken in there will be a temporary lessening of proof required to claim being baited into a fight. I will see to it that the typically troublemakers are told personally."

"This all assumes he wants to stay here with us. The mecha who've been shooting at him all his existence," Hot Spot pointed out.

"Where else would he go?" Ironhide replied. "He can't stay by himself and expect to survive." 

"That is a preference by some," Prowl told him pointedly, reminded of something far too painful to archive. "However," he shifted focus to Hot Spot. "There are only four options. Two of which Autobots do not do. The other two are for him to choose to remain and integrate, whether he becomes an Autobot or remains neutral, or he may leave. We must prepare for him to remain in case he does."

"Prepare for both eventualities," Silverbolt nodded and filed away the information for later contemplation. Turning toward Red Alert, he said, "I'll need to warn my team and have everyone keep an optic on them. Fireflight and Skydive will probably avoid him around the Ark, but I can't image Slingshot and Air Raid won't take the opportunity to try to provoke him. We were basically created to act as a counter to the Stunticons. Having only one left won't change their attitude."

"I hate to say it but at least it's Breakdown we're dealing with. Can you imagine trying to integrate Wildrider?" Hot Spot said. "He'd drive everyone on my team crazy." 

"Imagine, no. I have run those plans however," Prowl's words were more a reminder to the two youngest officers of what he did, all orn, every orn, even in recharge. "Of them only Motormaster has never produced a successful result."

"He wouldn't," Ironhide agreed before Jazz diverted them to a discussion about the possible consequences of these events with a mental note to work on Prowl's mood ASAP. He really didn't think it would be good for either side if Prowl and Breakdown made the connection Prowl was getting entirely too close to.

* * *

Breakdown booted up gradually. Far more gradually than could possibly be natural. Despite that he felt ... good. Calm. Repaired.

It wasn't right but it was nice.

As sensors came on line he felt himself sitting upright in a chair and that there was another mid-sized mech in the empty room.

Habitually he tested the gestalt bond to see how angry Motormaster was right now but it came up with a gaping, empty hole. Suddenly the memory of everything that had happened flashed through his processor. His team was gone. The Decepticons wanted him offlined. They'd never bother with something like this for him. Reluctantly he onlined his optics and braced for the accusing stare he knew would be in the Autobot's optics.

Instead it was an unreadable blue visor with a smile under it and Breakdown's spark spasmed. 

Jazz.

He was facing _Jazz_ of all mechs!

"Haya my mech," Jazz continued to grin at him as he relaxed against a small table. "Ratchet said you had a really bad day. I'm not interested in making it worse if I don't have to."

"I don't know anything," Breakdown said, amazed he wasn't stuttering. There was nothing he could tell Jazz that would save him from misery and torture. 

"You know plenty, even if you aren't aware of it. But let's start with the important bit. Why were the Cons shooting at ya?" Jazz maintained his relaxed air.

Okay, he knew that bit of information although he wasn't sure why Jazz was asking him. It wasn't like Jazz couldn't find it out on his own. Maybe it was a test? "Motormaster challenged Megatron and lost. He was executed for his defiance, and we were all going to be offlined," Breakdown explained. He was admitting to being useless now but it wasn't like Jazz wouldn't be able to discover it. Maybe they'd be quick with the execution? He glanced at his hands amazed to see that they weren't shaking. 

Jazz nodded. It was nice to know Breakdown wasn't a compulsive liar. "Do you want to return to Megatron?"

"I don't want to be offlined; that's why I ran instead of just letting them offline me," Breakdown stared at Jazz pondering whether the mech was going to offer to do just that. "Are you thinking about trading me back to him?" 

"Nope. But here's where we are. You're still technically a Decepticon," he motioned to Breakdown's badge. "So we can turn you loose to do what you want as long as you don't harm humans or us." He paused to see how Breakdown reacted to the idea.

"Live on my own without any back-up being hunted by the Decepticons and the humans," Breakdown shivered at the idea of having all those eyes tracking and hunting him down. "The humans won't care that I'm not with the Decepticons anymore." 

"True, though it's unlikely to be an active hunt. Anyway, that's option one," Jazz shrugged. "Option two is you renounce your Decepticon allegiance and apply for asylum here." 

"Apply for asylum?" Breakdown stared at Jazz trying to understand the odd phrase. A scan of his vocabulary databanks led to him staring at Jazz trying to figure out the catch. "You're asking if I want to join the Autobots?"

What would they want with a useless member of a broken gestalt? Maybe he would be a spare if one of the Protectobots offlined? 

"Signing up directly is defecting, which is option three. Asylum is where you live here and do work for your keep but you won't be asked to fight former comrades," Jazz elaborated.

"How does that work? How could I put out enough work to justify you maintaining me?" Breakdown pondered how he could pay for his supplies to survive. Maybe they were going to use him to test Wheeljack's experiments? It might be safer than being Mixmaster's test subject. Definitely safer than being Shockwave's tester. 

"It depends on what you can do but you'd hardly be the first Con we've taken in and not all of them fight," Jazz hid his shock at the way the conversation was going. He'd really expected more fussing and probably a glitch by now. "Even if all you can do is basic labor there's a lot of cleaning, dusting, painting, removing unauthorized organic stuff and odd chores to keep the base up. Plus we're still digging parts out and constructing new quarters in the next mountain. There's more than enough work to cover quarters, energon and maintenance." 

Breakdown just stared at Jazz trying to figure out where the trick was. This was way too attractive as an offer. There had to be another catch especially since a SpecOps officer was making it. "Are you going to use me as bait for a trap for the Decepticons? Is that going to be how I prove my usefulness?" 

"Not that Prowl or I would mind doing that but Optimus will never agree to it," Jazz actually snorted. "You don't have to prove your usefulness. You have to prove _to me_ that you've genuinely left the Decepticons," he slid a thick hardline cable from under his front end and played with it.

"You want in my processor," Breakdown stared at the cable like it was going to bite him. Hardlining was something that he'd never let happen willingly. Letting the head of Autobot SpecOps into his processor to strip away all his defenses? There was no telling what they would do to him. At that he realized that they'd already had access to his processor. He averted his gaze away from Jazz and stared at his shaking hands. 

"Yap. And yes, I could have done this without booting you up but Prime would have my cables for it," Jazz said seriously. "I can get away with it for actual prisoners. You got enough out he thinks you're asking for asylum. That makes a bunch more rules for me to pay attention to. The main one is your agreement to let me look. You can say no and you're back to option one."

He'd requested asylum with the Autobots? He tried to think about what he'd said when Blitzwing and the Coneheads were driven off and he'd been surrounded. He knew he'd babbled about what had just happened but had he actually asked for asylum? Thinking about it he realized he might have actually babbled something that sounded like that to a weak-sparked Autobot. Had he just called Prime weak-sparked, the one who beat Motormaster and Megatron in fights? Could he let Jazz in his head knowing that he would be following Prime's rules? "How do I know you won't reprogram me?" 

"You don't." Jazz answered honestly. "Just like you don't know I haven't already been in there. I won't and haven't because those are the rules I work within. That's all you've got by way of promises though."

He stared at the wall searching for the cameras he knew had to be in the room watching him. There was a camera in the corner and probably four more hidden around the room. He'd heard Soundwave's brood comment about the security here. The camera would document what happened here. It wouldn't record exactly what Jazz did to him, but it would record that he did it. Was he going to have to trust the Autobots? What choice did he have? He couldn't go back to the Decepticons unless he wanted to be offlined. "If I don't let you I have to go away, and I'll be offlined because no one will care what happens. Not that any of you care what happens to me anyway, but if I let you do it I won't be alone." Staring at his unsteady hands he clenched the table, and said, "Okay." 

Jazz nodded and sat down, then actually handed him the cable to plug in.

Breakdown stared at the cable and reluctantly reached for it half-expecting it to electrocute him. He was briefly tempted to try to rip it out of Jazz but that would be one of Dead End's suicidal move. Besides he was certain that Jazz could tear him apart before he succeeded. He waited a long moment before finally bracing himself and plugging it in with trembling hands. The contact was smooth, more polite than any Decepticon had been with him. Jazz actually asked for permission and waited for it.

It took a lot of effort for him to start slowly lowering his defenses and he knew he was still pricking at Jazz's mind since he couldn't take everything down. Maybe if he took too long they would kick him out? But he couldn't just expose himself. That always got him hurt. He felt Jazz explore what he was given access to, watched him flag a couple memories that didn't seem like anything important and move at Breakdown's pace for what seemed like ages.

~Need me to take it down?~ Jazz nudged the last real firewall.

Breakdown swallowed hard and concentrated on the firewall but he couldn't make it budge. ~Yes, you're going to have to do it. I can't make it come down,~ he admitted, bracing mentally for an assault. 

He felt Jazz nod and the barrier was gone before Breakdown had fully braced. It didn't feel good but it hadn't really hurt.

~I know what I'm doing, kiddo,~ Jazz told him as he explored what the mech couldn't expose on his own.

Everything from his fear of his gestalt leader to the weird mix of admiration he felt for Megatron had been exposed to Jazz for examination. This wasn't going to get him in good with the Autobots. Who was he kidding. He was worthless now that the others were gone. He'd never been the strongest or the fastest but he'd been a part of something. Even if Motormaster hated him. Of course he had hated everyone so that didn't really count. Did it? 

~Not really,~ Jazz supplied and some of his genuine sympathy for the gestalt slipped in before he backed out and unplugged. "So those two memories I tagged. You felt pretty safe. Any idea why?"

Breakdown focused on the memories that Jazz had tagged, surprised he was still online and in one piece mentally. After looking at the memories Breakdown finally said, "That was when Motormaster was in the med bay overnight. Dead End, Drag Strip, Wildrider and I all settled in to recharge together. I had someone watching my back and keeping all the troublemakers at bay." 

"What do you think of our twins?" Jazz took an apparent random turn.

"Scary," Breakdown replied immediately remembering the two of them taking on the Seekers as well as the triple changers and even trying to fight a merged gestalt a time or two. Not that that had gone really well for them but the even trying to make the effort was a bit frightening. 

"But as an ally, not an opponent," Jazz nudged.

Breakdown pondered that a moment trying to imagine being near Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Finally he said, "No worse than Motormaster except they aren't gestalt so they can rip me apart if they're mad." 

"We'll need to work on that, but I can say I don't believe you're an intentional threat or metalmole," Jazz said. "I'll show ya to your quarters when I find out where you'll be staying."

"Okay," Breakdown looked around the room at the cameras wondering if he was going to be left alone in here. He thought he'd found most of the hidden cameras so he avoided looking at them and started scanning for microphones or any other devices.

"Here," Jazz handed him a datapad as he stood. "It's my briefing on how to survive among Autobots and this crew."

Breakdown took the datapad and examined it for any traps before hesitantly turning it on and starting to read it. He wasn't certain that it was all true but at least it gave him a starting point before he screwed everything up. 

* * *

Jazz flopped into his chair and looked at the other command officers. "I'll be honest. Assigning him to the twins might be the best long term plan but I'm seriously doubting it for his first handler. Mech needs consistency, understanding and someone who can talk him down from a twitching fit. He's terrified of the twins right now."

"He's terrified of everyone and everything," Ratchet pointed out with a huff. "Only so much I can do given how he was called."

"You two seem to be getting attached to him considering he's a 'Con that didn't want to defect," Blaster observed neutrally. He couldn't sense any outside force influencing them although Jazz's concern for an involuntary defector was a bit unusual. "Some of the troops are going to wonder why my mech." 

"He's my patient until he leaves," Ratchet groused, though to Blaster the real reason was just as clear: the medic had fits over every condition he couldn't repair.

"It's my job," Jazz shrugged, then rolled his optics behind his visor. "And I'm kinda responsible. I made the first breaks in their control code."

"Just their control code?" Prime's focus turned intense.

"Just the control code," Jazz promised. "I never expected one to make it here, much less agree to anything, but one did and has so it's my job to vet them."

"We broke them so we are responsible for them?" Hot Spot asked pondering the idea. First Aid had been disturbed by Breakdown's presence and its implication, but he was also hopeful that he could be salvaged into a saner mech who wouldn't attack Autobots or try to offline himself due to the broken bonds.

"More like we broke them and they came to us so we need to fix them," Jazz amended with a shrug.

"He never had a choice because of that control coding," Ironhide grunted. "I could act as a commander for the three of them. Having a team leader is something he is used to and would allow stability while still keeping him with the twins for protection. For us and him."

"A reasonable plan," Prowl hummed. "Ironhide is excellent at stability. What do we need to make him feel as safe as he's capable of in his quarters?"

"Put a camera in the room where he can see it," Jazz looked at Red Alert. "He expects that we're going to monitor him and this way he'll have the camera to protect him from being attacked anonymously in his quarters. Make certain he knows who will have access to his quarters. Think of anything else you'd want to do to protect yourself in his position." 

The security director nodded quickly and began a rapid set of calculations on his datapad. He looked up at Prime after nearly a klik. "With full cooperation I can have quarters ready for them in a few joors, an orn at the most. It would be fastest in the officer's wing but it can be done with two enlisted quarters." He then pinged everyone a file with a very short list of designations on it. "That is who will have the codes for his room."

"It'd be safer to keep him in the officer's wing for us and him. There is a corridor near Red's quarters that has a room that should work well," Ironhide agreed as he looked over Red's list. "Has First Aid settled enough to be able to work on him?" 

"Agreed," Optimus nodded. "You will have full cooperation."

"In a medical emergency he's capable of sedating him," Red Alert gave the only thing he expected First Aid to need it for.

"With Ratchet as his main medic and Ironhide as his commander I think we have enough stability present," Jazz said nodding in agreement at the list. "I don't know if he's ever had anyone we would consider a friend. Maybe Dead End although that would be more of a family relationship given their gestalt status. It's going to take him time to learn and trust enough to develop friendships." 

Red Alert cast him a baleful look. "It's unlikely he will ever have friends. There are only three categories of things. The _trusted_ , the safe enough and danger. The twins, Ironhide and Ratchet need to become _trusted_. That is likely the work of vorns. Friendship has too much give and take to understand."

Ratchet gave him a careful look. "Why don't you return to the security room."

Red Alert didn't even wait for Prime's permission. He was up and out the door into Inferno's care as fast as he could move.

"Thanks," Jazz said after Red Alert was out of the room. "I think this is a lot harder for him than I realized. Watching Breakdown must be like looking in a slightly warped mirror. I hope Inferno can get him calmed down."

"Inferno's been monitoring everything we're talking about with Breakdown," Ratchet said. "He's tracking Red Alert and trying to keep him level through this." 

* * *

Following Ironhide out into the open and down a hallway he'd never seen was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do. The massive grizzled warrior had a looming presence. In a strange way he felt a little bit like Soundwave; a solid stable presence that kept the most volatile mecha in line whether by force or by sheer presence. It was kinda nice, actually. Having that presence without the telepathy was nice, in a way. That Ironhide was now in charge of him wasn't the worst thought he'd had.

It could have been much, much worse. He was still leery of Jazz even though he seemed to have treated him fairly so far. He was SpecOps; he was going to turn on Breakdown whenever it was necessary. Or more convenient. If he cooperated he was less likely to get scrapped...at least for now. His thoughts were disrupted as Ironhide stopped in front of a door at the end of a corridor. Was this his new cell? 

"This is the quarters you'll be sharing with your handlers," Ironhide said and databurst him a code. "Let's make sure it works."

"Handlers?" Breakdown asked as he carefully entered the code. He was actually getting the code to the door? Or were they going to change it as soon as he was inside? "I was told you were in charge of me now." 

"Yeah, the mechs you'll be answering ta orn ta orn and'll help ya yet along around here," Ironhide nodded and walked in before Breakdown. "I'm the next one up in your and their chain 'o command. This is communal space, just like gestalt quarters. Your room is that one and it's got a different code. Only you, Ratchet, First Aid and I have it," he databurst that code. "That other door is their room and the middle one is a private washrack."

A private washrack? Breakdown almost stumbled in disbelief as he slowly followed Ironhide into the room. The idea that he'd be safer from assault by the Autobot soldiers conflicted with his concern about being able to be easily poisoned or contaminated by the spray. Maybe they were doing it to keep him from assaulting an Autobot when they were vulnerable? 

"Make sure your door code works," Ironhide motioned to Breakdown's door.

Breakdown entered the code and watched the door open. Looking inside without actually entering, he spotted a simple berth with a datapad lying on it. He glanced warily at Ironhide, "What's that?"

"The rules you need to follow on the base. Prowl wanted to make certain you'd be able to study them thoroughly," Ironhide replied.

"That makes sense," Breakdown vented briefly. He'd need to memorize all the rules and make certain to have multiple copies in his databanks. That way he'd be more likely to have proof if any of them were changed later to get him into trouble. "So now what?" He looked back at Ironhide.

"Now you get the run of the quarters until the twins get off duty. Then I'll be back with them to make sure everybody is on the same screen," Ironhide told him. "And maybe don't try to hack their door after they've settled in," he motioned to it. "You really don't want to listen to Sunstreaker complain all night because something was moved or Primus forbid some of his supplies are missing."

"The twins," Breakdown stuttered. He'd been told he'd have handlers but he hadn't imagined it would actually be them. He was going to get trashed so badly. Maybe if he hid in his room when Ironhide wasn't around? 

"Yeah them. I guess the social processors figured you'd get along with them. Similar situation and all," Ironhide shrugged. "I'll take you to fuel when they're moving in. About a joor. Any question before I leave?"

"No," Breakdown stepped into his room and waited to see if the door would slam shut locking him inside after Ironhide left. He was in a similar situation to the twins? He couldn't quite grasp that explanation. They were known to be reckless and ruthless in battle...okay, that sounded a bit like his gestalt mates. Former gestalt mates. Settling on the berth, Breakdown huddled for a few kliks trying fight down the despair at being alone. Pushing it aside, he picked up the datapad and activated it. When it didn't blow up he started reading, determined to learn the rules so that he wouldn't make too many mistakes.

* * *

Breakdown was still focused on the rules when a knock at the door nearly made him jump out of his plating.

"It's Ironhide. Come out for fuel," the rough voice demanded.

"I'm coming," He scrambled to his pedes and headed over to the door leaving the datapad on the berth at a deliberate angle. It wasn't much but he'd have a good chance to recognize if anyone came in and moved it. As long as it wasn't SpecOps. The camera on the ceiling was a bit unnerving but he'd expected something like that. There were probably more he'd need to search for later. 

Ironhide gave him a quick look-over and nodded. "Sides!" he barked over his shoulder.

"Oh, hi, you must be Breakdown," the red hellion grinned a disturbingly friendly greeting as he poked his helm around Ironhide's bulk.

"Yes, I am," Breakdown straightened and tried to quell all of his nerves. Sideswipe was a fearsome warrior and showing any signs of cowardice was definitely going to get him slagged or humiliated. He wasn't certain how to prove useful to the frontliner just yet but he was determined to find a way. Distractions had occasionally worked in the past; maybe they would work here? He'd definitely need to keep an optic on their surroundings when outside the quarters and find a potential diversion whenever they were in public. 

"Welcome to the madhouse," Sideswipe snickered and stuck his hand out. "It's _way_ easier to deal with these guys than Cons. Not as much fun though."

Breakdown reached out and gripped Sideswipe's hand. He might get thrown into a wall but at least this way he was making himself appear to be less of an easy target. He'd deal with the shakes later. Half to his shock they shook hands and then Sideswipe let go.

"Enough. Remember what Red and Inferno told you," Ironhide glared at the sociable one.

"Yeah, yeah, no intentionally scaring, pranking or damaging him. I remember. Better help move the berth before he decides to fold him inside it," Sideswipe grinned a bit more and rushed out.

"Insufferable pair of glitched out troublemakers," Ironhide shook his helm. Despite the words his tone was fond. "Come on, let's get you a cube."

Breakdown hesitated at the door to the hallway. Having a room obviously off the well-trodden path was a relief in a way. Stepping out into the hall was unnerving given how empty it was although he didn't know if he would be able to step out into a crowd. Amazingly he was actually able to leave the room. Maybe it was because of Ironhide. Prime's bodyguard had a reputation among the Cons as a solid and fearsome warrior. If he didn't frag the warrior off maybe Ironhide would protect him like he'd said he would. There was a slim chance he might make it back to the room unscathed if he stuck close to the warrior. 

It wasn't long before they reached more populated areas and he shifted closer to Ironhide. No one tried to grab him though. No one even tried to touch him. He followed Ironhide almost blindly, too focused on watching his surroundings to track the path they were on until they were inside a large room with half a dozen mecha.

Jazz was the first he IDed and the SpecOps commander smiled and waved his way. Breakdown hesitantly waved back even as he tried to hide behind Ironhide as the move attracted attention. Several mecha were scowling at what had to be him as Ironhide headed over to a dispenser. It wasn't like they would risk scowling at the Autobot warrior. No, it was the defector they were angry to see. Well, it wasn't like he really wanted to be here surrounded by all these optics. He didn't think he could have actually made it in here if the room was full. 

"Pay attention," Ironhide had that attention in an instant. "Press this and ping your ID to the dispenser. It'll give ya your ration including anything Ratch wants ya to have in it." Then he did so and got a cube of the most pure looking energon Breakdown could recall seeing. "Now you do it."

There was no way he was going to get something that good from the dispenser but hopefully it would be edible. He was mildly concerned that having it tied to his ID meant that he could be poisoned but the idea that Jazz or Red Alert would allow such a thing to happen was remote. He'd heard enough complaints from the symbiots to know the Security Director took his job very seriously, and the placement of the cameras he could see seemed to prove it. He was surprised at the purity of the energon it dispensed. Maybe it was reading his ID wrong and gave him someone else's ration? 

"Come on," Ironhide said after giving the cube a glance and nod. "Not going to make you fuel here this time but try to work up to it. Even Prowl takes his fuel here every few orns."

This was actually his? It looked like what the officers should have not a lowly mech like him. And Ironhide wasn't going to make him fuel here under all these hostile optics? He clutched it to his chestplate before subspacing it to try to keep anyone from stealing it or trying to trip him to cause it to spill. He doubted he'd get a replacement cube if that happened. The path Ironhide took him on was starting to look familiar and by the time they reached the door he realized they were headed back to his quarters.

Breakdown pinged it to open and lurched back when a fast-moving object collided with Ironhide with a resounding clang of armor against armor.

"Thought you were getting his ration," Sideswipe looked up in a slight daze from the floor.

"I did," Ironhide growled as he glared down at Sideswipe.

Breakdown shot a glance down the hall. If he ran from the coming fight would he get in trouble? Would it be worse if he stayed? If he was really still maybe they wouldn't notice him until it was over.

"Get up and come on," Sunstreaker grabbed his brother by his collar fairing and hauled him out of the room and down the hall.

Ironhide snorted in amusement. "Not a bad habit to get into standing to the side when opening a door," he commented and stepped to the side for Breakdown to go in. "For now most of their duties will be ones you can go with them on. If they both need to be somewhere you can't be you'll either be locked in here, with me or a command officer."

"I'll be going on duty shifts with them?" Breakdown stared after Sunstreaker nervously before edging into the room. Appearing intimidated by the highly aggressive warrior was reasonable and might help him survive if he didn't appear to be challenging or threatening. "Clean-up duties?" He could do that. It would be useful although a bit degrading. 

"Clean-up, some patrols, training. I doubt you'll do more than watch training but you can be there," Ironhide shrugged.

"Okay," Breakdown said as he pondered the possible duties. After some consideration he realized that patrols weren't too much of a shock. It wasn't like he could run away and tattle to the Decepticons since they wanted to offline him. Watching training? Maybe Ironhide meant using him as target practice during some of the practices. Some of the Decepticons had found it to be a favorite activity since the force fields kept the Stunticons from getting too damaged during the sessions. Maybe that was being reserved for when he screwed up and broke the rules. 

"Good. The twins and I are around to answer questions when you have them," Ironhide said. "You have our comms?"

"I have your comm," Breakdown answered worried that Ironhide would be upset that he didn't have the comms for the twins. How could he be expected to have the comms for his keepers when he didn't even know who they were before he'd gotten here.

Ironhide simply pinged him a short list. It didn't just include Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. Ratchet, First Aid, Prowl, Jazz, Bumblebee, Inferno and Optimus Prime were also on it. So were reasons to contact various mecha and a handful of internal URLs for information.

"So all that's somewhere in the welcome package. It's public info on various boards," Ironhide assured him it wasn't any kind of restricted info. "Fuel, try to say hi to Sideswipe and try to get some rest."

"Okay," Breakdown said repeating the instructions in his head. Drink fuel. He could do that. He'd take a sip to make certain it wasn't poisoned and then finish it when he didn't feel any bad effects. Recharge would be difficult being in a strange place surrounded by former...current?...enemies but it might be possible. Try to say hi to Sideswipe. At least Ironhide wasn't expecting a miracle from him. Just that made him feel a tiny bit better about his prospects.

"Sideswipe will probably bang on your door in about three joors so you have time to get ready for their first shift," Ironhide added before he turned to leave.

Breakdown immediately set an internal alarm for three joor so he wouldn't be late. Wildrider had occasionally found it funny to make him run late for a shift, and he didn't want to make a worse impression than he already had on the other Autobots by being late his first shift. After a thought he set two more alarms close to the other in case he managed to miss just one.

Now he was torn. Should he fuel first in the relative safety of his room and then risk leaving to try to talk to Sideswipe? Or should he try to talk first and hope that there weren't any major issues that developed during the attempted conversation? As he stood there trying to decide the door slid open to the twins. Sideswipe entered first with a grin for Breakdown.

"Did you get your fuel?" the red twin asked amicably while Sunstreaker pushed past him to go into their room. "Don't mind Mr. Sunshine's mood. He just hates moving."

"Sorry to cause him trouble," Breakdown said quickly getting the words out before his vocalizer locked up. "Yes, Ironhide took me to get fuel. Is it really so pure for everyone?" maybe it was this consistency because Ratchet thought he needed a boost before working? Why would the medic want to help him unless it was to keep from having problems in the future. That made sense from what he'd heard about Ratchet from the other Cons. 

"You'll get used to him," Sideswipe promised. "If you got it from a rec room, then yeah, that's our standard stuff. It's a thermal, magma and solar mix. I'll show you how to get a different mix once Ratchet's sure your systems can handle it."

"You have different mixes of energon?" Breakdown looked at him bewildered by this comment. He'd always fueled on whatever was available. Did the Autobots really have so much energon they could be picky about what they drank? "Does it make a difference?"

"Only in the taste. Magma is kinda spicy. Solar is light and sweet. Thermal's spicy too but not nearly as spicy as magma. Sometimes we can get time at one of the big power plants and get something really exotic. The Hydro is like nothing else and I love the kick of the local nuclear. I'm not so sure about the aero but it's drinkable. Every source gives a bit of a different flavor to it. It's not steady but some additives are cheap enough here that they're usually around," Sideswipe grinned as he started to delve into his favorite hobby.

Additives not for repairs? Flavors of energon? Breakdown just looked at Sideswipe knowing his lack of comprehension must be visible. Complaining that energon was barely drinkable was something he'd heard from some of the older Cons but never really understood. Fuel was fuel. If you didn't drink it someone else would take it from you. Maybe it was like when Motormaster got mad at someone and made them wait until almost all the other Cons had fueled leaving the dregs. Searching for something to say, he winced at his own incompetency as he said, "That seems complicated." 

Sideswipe's grin turned into a serious look. "Sorry. Energon is my thing, like Sunny has painting, Jazz music and Prowl strategy games. I'm the local blender, distiller and confectioner too, even if I am a self taught beginner. The full depth of energon goes way beyond what I just rattled off. I'll shut up now," he actually glanced away. "Anyway, I try to make the energon as enjoyable to drink as I can. How much time do you need to be ready before shift?"

"You can make it taste different each time? What is a confection? I can get ready in about ten breem depending on when I can get to the washrack. I can be quicker if needed," Breakdown blurted out before answering the question. Why was he getting stuck on fuel? Was it because it was so plentiful that Sideswipe could experiment with it? Maybe he could become useful enough that Sideswipe could tell him it was rancid or becoming toxic? Did he trust one of the Terror Twins enough to give him that kind of power? Or was it flattering to be asked such a thing? 

"Yes, I can. Confections are goodies like jellies, gels, cookies, cakes, chew sticks...." Sideswipe trailed off. "A bunch of stuff you've probably never heard of. Stay. Be right back," he ordered calmly before darting into his room.

Breakdown froze in place waiting for whatever Sideswipe was going to do. He didn't seem angry when he headed into his room so maybe it wouldn't involve a pummeling. The words he'd used reminded him of some of the weird radio programs the squishies...humans made and played on so many frequencies. Why were you not supposed to have a cake and eat it too? Was it toxic or something that had to be given away? Was Sideswipe going to give him something dangerous? What was he thinking of course a frontline warrior would want to test him to see if he was worth anything. 

Sideswipe was only gone a couple kliks and when he came back he had a simple box in hand. "Here," he thrust the box towards Breakdown. "Some confections left from the last batch." He pinged Breakdown a small file and then a larger one. "That's what each in the box is and the bigger file is what I know how to make."

Breakdown hesitantly opened the smaller file and stared at it. The glyphs made sense individually but the combinations were foreign. Fortunately they came with images and descriptions. There was no way he could consume these right now with Sideswipe staring at him like that. He'd need to test them carefully to see if they were really fuel, jokes or poisonous to him. Remembering the manners Ratchet had stressed when talking to him, he said, "Th..thanks. I'll try them later." 

"Okay. Let me know if you like something more than the rest," Sideswipe nodded, then huffed. "See ya in the morning. Sunshine's demanding my attention."

Sunshine? Breakdown scanned his memory banks trying to figure out which Autobot had that designation. Was his list incomplete? Worried he'd made a mistake he backed into his new quarters and placed the small box on the bare shelf. He didn't think Sideswipe would give him a bomb given how close their quarters were and the camera monitoring him that would identify the assailant. If anyone cared that he was blown up. Although Ratchet would probably be annoyed at having to fix him this quickly. If he bothered to do the repairs.

Shaking off his scattering thoughts Breakdown removed the cube from his subspace and stared at it. The color was like nothing he had ever seen before with the Cons although he had seen it here. Ironhide had filled his cube with fuel that color. Jazz had a cube that color in front of him in the Rec Room. Okay, it was probably energon then because the warrior and the SpecOps commander were both drinking it. He hadn't actually seen either drink it, but another Autobot in the Rec Room had been consuming fuel and it had looked something like this before he finished it. Hesitantly Breakdown took a small sip and held it in his mouth ready to spit it out if it triggered any warnings in his systems. 

No warnings other than it being 100% pure and far more potent than he was used to. That was strange enough he wondered if Ratchet had done something to his sensors. Energon didn't come this pure.

Did it?

No alarms were going off and he didn't detect any of the toxins he'd encountered in the past. Hesitantly he swallowed part of the mouthful to see if his tanks would react negatively. Instead his fuel level went up far more than he'd ever seen in his systems. After three kliks with no bad effects he swallowed the rest of the mouthful and for the first time found it difficult to hold off drinking the rest. His systems screamed at him to drink it. That it was good. It was fuel. 

It was _good_.

This had to be a trick or trap. He forced himself to put the cube down on the shelf and stumbled away from it, frantically scanning his systems to see if he'd been poisoned or some strange coding had been activated by that mouthful. Panting he debated running to the wash rack and trying to purge out the contaminant but couldn't make himself do it. His systems kept telling him it was just energon but that couldn't be true. He'd never experience anything like this before. Even drinking non-medical energon hadn't done this and that was usually so foul-tasting that he had to force it down. 

* * *

Half a ship away Red Alert was nestled in Inferno's arms and watching something he understood so well his spark ached for this no-longer-an-intruder.

"He's freaking out," Inferno observed with a small frown. Watching Breakdown was like watching Red Alert before they became close and finally bonded. "He wasn't acting like this when he was talking to Sideswipe." 

"Remember Jazz's reports on the energon Decepticons survive on?" Red Alert shivered. "He's probably never tasted real energon. His systems are saying it's good. Experience is telling him it tastes wrong."

"He thinks he's being poisoned?" Inferno asked ready to comm Ironhide and Ratchet if things got any worse. The mech needed to refuel. If he purged the call was going to be made. 

"Likely," Red Alert nodded. "Now it's a question of whether his processor or frame wins. I expect he'll keep it down. We're past the reflex phase," he motioned to the mech shaking on the berth. "He'll probably go for the cube if nothing bad happens in a breem or two." He went momentarily still. "It's what I did."

"He's had a hard life and lousy socialization with the Cons," Inferno agreed. "I think he threw Sideswipe when he didn't know what that fuels tasted different. That might actually endear him to Sideswipe."

"It might. Sides doesn't give his goodies away for free," Red Alert mused. His attention focused sharply on the one screen when Breakdown got up. He relaxed when the nervous mech reached for the cube and began to drink. "It's not over but that's a really good start on keeping him fueled."

"I'll remind Ratchet to keep that mix available for him. No need to freak him out by taking it away once he accepts it," Inferno noted. Red didn't mind having choices available but when he was starting to glitch having the familiar constant around helped ease poisoning issues. 

"Good idea. It's easy enough to do with the way it's stored and dispensed," Red Alert agreed. "He's honestly doing much better than I expected."

"Ratchet did a lot of repairs to his systems and says he never had a decent medic look him over. We'll see how he does as everything settles and reality really drives home," Inferno said as Breakdown put the now empty cube down and stared at the box Sideswipe had given him. "I think he might be numb from so many changes and the bonds breaking no matter how defective that gestalt was. Ratchet was throwing a fit over how dysfunctional the connections actually were among them." 

"They were sparked Decepticons to be everything Autobots are not," Red Alert reminded him. "I'm glitched because I was called into a system too advanced for a spark. They're glitched because Megatron demanded glitched sparks." He shivered. "Of all his atrocities I think that may have been the worst. To call sparks incapable of functioning in the real world," his voice trailed off, unable to articulate how _evil_ that truly was. "Not even Unicron does that."

"Prowl said that calling them during peace time would have been a potential terrorism charge as well as cruelty charges for creating such damaged sparks," Inferno agreed pulling Red Alert just a bit closer for a secure hug. "Breakdown might be able to function with a lot of help; I know from Jazz that Motormaster couldn't. Look at what happened as soon as the slave coding broke in them." 

"Without Motormaster the others might have had a chance. It's still a mercy for them that they were put down quickly," Red Alert sighed and snuggled into his bonded's arms. "Do you really think the twins are the right choice for him? They're barely civilized themselves."

"If he could survive his gestalt he can handle them," Inferno said gently nuzzling Red Alert's helm but avoiding the sensory horns for the moment. "They're a lot saner than the rest of the Stunticons were but have that bit of recklessness that Breakdown is used to since creation. I think having him around will make things a bit more interesting for a while. We'll need to keep a close optic on them through the cameras." 

"Always," Red Alert agreed fervently then focused on the screen. "Look, he's going to try and rest."

"Good luck to him," Inferno said sincerely knowing that being in on his own in a strange place was going to play havoc with the poor racer. It was hard to picture him as a danger on the battlefield looking at him huddled on his berth like that. It reminded him way too much of Red Alert on the bad orns. They had so much in common it was hard for him not to picture his beloved in a similar situation and could think of no way to have it end well.

* * *

Breakdown jolted online as his first alarm went off reminding him that his first duty session was today. He'd slipped into his normal doze with his sensors active during the recharge cycle. The idea of actually recharging in such an insecure location was not something he could do right now. Maybe in twenty orn or so if nothing happened in this room. Or a vorn or three if he survived that long. He couldn't imagine it happening before he'd doubled his lifespan. He double and triple checked that no one had come in and nothing had moved. It was hard to believe but it really seemed like no one had come in.

He paused, debating whether he should wait for Sideswipe to knock or take a shower and buff himself a bit.

Did he want to look eager for his first day out of medical as a neutral? Maybe Sideswipe or Sunstreaker would jump him if he came out before they were ready for him? Would Sideswipe give him enough time to get ready or try to humiliate him by cutting his prep time short? Maybe he should peek out and see if the main room was empty? He wouldn't get in trouble for opening his own door would he? They'd given him the code. Holding helm up but staring firmly at the ground he climbed off the berth and slowly made his way over to the door to open it. It slid open to an empty room but he could hear the washrack running.

No way he was approaching that door with the washrack running. The last thing he needed was to get jumped or worse for startling them. He didn't have anyone to watch his back either so he'd have to hurry to get out of there. It'd probably be freezing cold anyway instead of lukewarm when he got in. A quick scan of the room revealed no nasty mirrors had been added and only the two cameras up in the corners. There was no place to hide from them but he expected that. It was comforting in a way to be able to see the cameras and know their coverage was enough that hidden ones were unlikely because they wouldn't catch anything new.

He stood at the door a moment longer to the sound of the blowers before the washrack room door slid open and Sideswipe came out just ahead of his brother. The red one spotted him and grinned while the yellow one was fixated on buffing his arm.

Breakdown backed up to make certain he was out of Sunstreaker's reach and in no danger of bumping into him. Even a drone would know better than to deliberately mar Sunstreaker's finish and stay in combat range. A few of the Seekers would occasionally try just to rile him up, but the twin warriors had even climbed buildings to go after the offending mechs. Better to wait for them to get out of the way and enter once they were clear. The good news was that Sunstreaker would probably be too busy polishing to bother with making any trouble right now. That just left Sideswipe who seemed to like him. Or pretended to like him. Sideswipe was probably trying to get on Breakdown's good side before pulling a prank or sabotaging him. Too bad he was already on to the twin's tricks. 

He darted into the washrack and in examining it found the shower he was expecting, controls in it he wasn't, a station with a mirror and a lock on the door. He looked around frantically and found a drying cloth which he hung over the mirror. With no optics watching him it would be easier to wash and get properly cleaned. Testing the shower he was amazed at how hot it was after the twins had just used it. Was it because they were in a volcano? Was that why there was so much heat here? It couldn't be that he'd been given any priority in the hierarchy here. He had no real value yet. That's why it was important to look the way they wanted and that meant clean. He'd kept Sideswipe's state in his processor. He should try to match that. It was probably pointless to try matching Sunstreaker's level of perfection. They'd probably accuse him of vanity and wasting resources. Better to look like a warrior. Trying to join the ranks of the local...peacocks...was too risky at this stage even if he wanted everyone looking at him. Which he didn't. Drawing attention was bad. And those little feathered things had way too many optics to be anything but part of SpecOps.

Yanking his attention back to the present he thoroughly scrubbed himself clean. Medical had already gotten rid of most of the last traces of his flight from the Decepticons with Dead End. Who hadn't made it. Not that he had ever expected to survive as long as he had. Really neither had Breakdown but for different reasons. When he shut off the solvent it was still hot and powerful fans turned on almost immediately. 

He almost jolted in alarm as the fans triggered before he realized that it was a cleaning function for the room. He couldn't help shivering even as the heat made his frame very comfortable. It was by far the nicest shower ever and made him all the more reluctant to leave when he knew he should. The only thing that really got him moving was the promise that Sideswipe would come get him if he wasn't ready for shift. He did not want to find out what that meant.

Stepping out of the wash rack he scanned quickly for the twins and Ironhide. This was an important day if he didn't want to be labeled useless or worthless for the rest of his life. He didn't but he knew there were those here that wanted him to fail. Maybe Ironhide and Sideswipe weren't among of them, but he still wasn't completely certain it wasn't a long term trick. He stood in the living room for several kliks before the door to the twin's room opened and Sideswipe stepped out. While Sunstreaker's grumbling was audible in the background Sideswipe gave Breakdown a quick looking over and nodded.

"Good to know your standards beat the minimum," Sideswipe told him.

"You look good," Breakdown said and then cursed himself silently. How stupid he must sound. Of course Sideswipe looked good; his twin wouldn't have let him out of the room if he detracted from him. He'd seen that enough with Dragstrip and Wildrider. A small pang hit as he tried to shove aside his missing gestalt. This wasn't a time for sentimentality. He had to prove he was tough and capable. Even if he wanted to curl up in the corner of his room and gibber for a while. When he focused on reality a nanoklik later he realized that Sideswipe looked delighted.

"Good to know he has sense," Sunstreaker huffed at both comment and Breakdown's looks. "What are we waiting for?"

"'Hide," Sideswipe shrugged. "You get any rest last night?" he directed at Breakdown.

"Enough," Breakdown said. He had actually gone into a brief recharge last night which was more than he'd expected without any kind of sedative like what he knew Ratchet had to have used in Medbay. He'd be okay for the next few days. He hadn't been disturbed by Dragstrip's whining or Dead End's muttering....No. No time to think about that. 

"It'll be okay," Sideswipe's voice was low and quiet as he put a firm hand on Breakdown's shoulder. Before either could react more Ironhide pinged and Sunstreaker pinged the door to open.

"Good, you're all ready. Come on," Ironhide motioned them to follow.

Breakdown fumbled for a moment before following Ironhide out in front of the twins. It was the best of a series of bad options. Having them at his back was processor-wracking since they could easily overpower him but being behind everyone where someone could jump him was an even worse choice. Sideswipe was still pretending he liked him so maybe he would keep up the charade while Ironhide was present. Unless Ironhide decided to clobber him. Being behind the twins would have put him briefly out of reach. But they could still grab him and hold him for Ironhide. In any case this at least meant no Autobots should be able to sneak up on him. Except Jazz ... and Mirage. 

It was the path Ironhide had taken him before when he got energon and he'd seen enough that time to pick up enough details to realize that he, and the twins, were in officer quarters. Prowl's quarters were across the hall. Jazz's next door. They actually had their designations etched into the door.

Why would they put a possible traitor in with the officers? He should be hidden away where he couldn't possibly cause any trouble. Out of sight...wouldn't be out of mind. Having him here meant they had the elites monitoring him. It meant the regular soldiers wouldn't be able to enter his quarters but Jazz had constant, easy access. It also made it less likely the symbiots would make their way into his quarters to get information or try to offline him. Anyone that didn't think Ravage could offline a full-size mecha was crazy. The felinoid was nasty when cornered or attacking from surprise. He was surprised to be so close to Prowl. The Praxian was very important to the Autobot cause. There were probably all kinds of lethal traps on and in his quarters. Best to avoid it like cosmic rust. Not that he would consider trying to get in anyone's quarters. There had to be cameras all over the place. Watching everyone's every move. The prevalence of visible cameras only backed up that idea and Red Alert's reputation was well known even among Decepticons. The glitchy mech missed _nothing_ in his territory.

"Remember how to work the dispenser?" Ironhide asked over his shoulder before they reached the rec room.

"Yes," Breakdown said. It sounded like a ridiculous question to ask the twins so it was obviously directed at him. Of course he knew how to get fuel. That was the most important thing anyone could know. Besides which Decepticons to avoid at a given time. But that required fuel to accomplish. He'd need to learn quickly which Autobots to avoid. Normally he'd say all of them but trying to avoid the twins and Ironhide was going to be difficult although not impossible during non-shift times. He could just lock himself in his room when he wasn't needed. 

They walked into the room and Breakdown made an instinctive check of who was there. He knew Jazz, who grinned and waved at him. A convoy class in bright red that wasn't Prime was sitting with an equally large yellow one he couldn't place right away. Another large mech that shared Soundwave's alt but was orange and yellow. It almost had to be Blaster.

Instinctively he shrunk away from the Host. He didn't need to give away his thoughts but also he remembered vividly how Soundwave had once actually winced when he was close to him during what Dragstrip had called a bad episode. No one else believed it, but Breakdown knew he'd seen it. Not that he'd ever tell anyone. Revealing a secret weakness about an officer was a way to get permanently slagged. Although, was that the kind of thing Jazz wanted? They probably knew due to Red Alert's presence but it might be something that was unique to Breakdown. Like the ability to shake apart bars. No wonder they hadn't bothered putting him back in the cells. 

He was torn between watching Ironhide get energon and keeping an optic on those in the room and energon won, though not before he saw Blaster finish his cube in a quick gulp and hurry out. Then he was in front of the dispenser and energon won all priorities for a moment. After pressing the button and entering his ID he half expected to see the kind of sludge he was used to drinking. Instead the same nearly pure energon flowed into the cube. It was hard to believe they were giving this to him without any cables attached. Beyond the ones he expected: working hard and not attacking anyone. As long as no one started anything he'd make himself abide by that one, but if someone did actually attack him he'd retaliate. Being seen as weak by the soldiers was worse than any beating since it would lead to more attacks later on. After the cube filled he glanced around quickly trying to track down Ironhide. He'd be safer to sit with even if he did decide to take part of the cube. 

Ironhide had claimed an empty table and Breakdown was sitting at it before the twins had their cubes and joined them.

Breakdown almost huddled against Ironhide but resisted the temptation. He wasn't certain the old warrior would want him touching him more than necessary, and he still didn't want to appear weak and vulnerable. At least this way he wasn't stuck in the corner surrounded. He'd have preferred it if it was his gestalt, but here being able to get away was more important. For now.

He drank quickly but not so fast that he was finished long before the others. The Autobots chatted, warrior talk of training and battles and teeking of a good mood. That mood didn't even shift when Jazz strolled up once the energon was gone.

"So Breakdown my mech, how are the twins treating you?" Jazz asked casually with a smile.

"No complaints," Breakdown answered immediately. Like he would actually voice a complaint in front of the mecha that controlled his existence. Trying to think of something that would be positive to say he recalled last night. "Sideswipe has offered to introduce me to energon flavors." 

"He knows them best of just about anyone," Jazz nodded to the red mech. "Hope your day's a good one," he added before heading for the door.

"You get used to him," Ironhide chuckled. "Least officer-like officer we've got."

Breakdown just glanced at Ironhide before staring firmly at his empty cube. Jazz might try to act like he wasn't an officer, but he was never going to forget he was SpecOps. He could smile before slicing your lines which didn't make him friendly. Actually it made him a lot like some of the Decepticons Breakdown had known. In that way surviving here wouldn't be much different.

Ironhide checked that Breakdown was finished fueling before he stood. "Your first shift is some basic assessments and maybe training."

Breakdown scrambled to his feet and moved out of Ironhide's way. He spotted the red convoy glancing his way briefly but deliberately not catching Breakdown's optics. He didn't seem hostile but maybe he was scouting out the situation before deciding to act? He was still thinking about why the big mech looked at him when he followed Ironhide into a large room that was strangely empty. It was obvious the space was designed to accommodate several groups, likely a dozen or more mecha.

"I know you can fight. I need to understand your style to train you better," Ironhide explained as the door closed and locked behind the twins. "Who'd you rather spar with?"

Breakdown pondered the concept frantically. Sunstreaker was a known berserker and fighting with him seemed suicidal. Fighting with Sideswipe ran the risk of angering Sunstreaker. Ironhide was out because he was going to watch the fight. Finally after weighing all the options, he hesitantly said, "Sideswipe." 

The red warrior stepped into a space marked out by a circle on the ground and relaxed into a defensive stance. "Only rule: No damage enough to alert the medics. Come at me."

Breakdown looked at him curiously although he understood the idea of not wanting to aggravate the medics. His force field should help prevent him from getting injured. Moving into the circle he rushed Sideswipe like he would have during sparring with Wildrider. The idea was to slam into him and use the force field help knock him around the ring. Instead of being bounced back Sideswipe gave slowly until he was close enough to grip Breakdown and suddenly the Stunticon was staring up at the ceiling. 

"That was different," he said as he sprang up to his pedes. Most Decepticons tried to overpower the force field rather than work with it. It was uncomfortable to be without one of his main forms of defense but it was also a little flattering. The attention to negating their field advantage was probably due to Motormaster and his attempts to attack Prime. He snapped out a kick at Sideswipe's leg. He didn't expect it to hit but if it angered the frontliner into an actual pummeling it would make the force field stronger. 

Sideswipe jumped out of the way before he came in fast to grab a wrist and spin Breakdown around so his gyros spun and balance was dicey. Then Sideswipe's hand made slow contact with his back and shoved hard.

"We may not look it on the field but we're smart fighters," Sunstreaker grunted. "Knowing how to fight who is critical to survival."

Breakdown threw himself at the ground using the momentum Sideswipe was creating to make enough of an impact to charge the field. Now that he had a bit of force behind it he threw a hard punch at Sideswipe with a second punch thrown slightly to the side to see if he could force Sideswipe to move in a specific direction. In full awareness of what he was risking he succeeded in getting Sideswipe to move where he wanted and saw in it and the hand on Sunstreaker's shoulder the twin's only credible weakness. They didn't fight without someone guarding their back. Focus on one and you let the other sneak up on you.

Just as fast as the realization dawned it was all but knocked out of his processor by a hand grabbing his wrist and throwing him bodily into the wall. It hurt more than it would have if he'd of had the normal sparring build-up but at least now he had enough of a field to prevent actual injuries. Bouncing off the wall he lunged for Sideswipe edging slightly to the right to continue shifting Sideswipe toward a corner. It was risky but trapping someone and using his field as a battering ram had worked in the past. 

Even if it didn't work it was the only idea he had. Sideswipe was unquestionably the better fighter.

"Break!" Ironhide bellowed. It immediately sent Sideswipe into a neutral stance.

Breakdown stumbled to a halt not use to having a fight end without serious damage to someone or a higher ranked officer wanted to use the room. He was kind of amazed that Sunstreaker hadn't jumped into the fight even though he wasn't a serious threat to Sideswipe. Dragstrip and Dead End had often ganged up on opponents during training. "You're good," he admitted grudgingly to Sideswipe. 

"Thanks. You've got a good grasp of your advantages," Sideswipe grinned back.

"Yeah, yeah, the kid knows the basics. You've got a lot way to go before I'd put you on the field," Ironhide huffed. "Know how that shield of your works?"

"Harder the strike the stronger it gets and the more it protects me," Breakdown said with a shrug. He didn't know the technical aspects of it but that much was easy to figure out. "It's why Motormaster was always trying to ram Prime. Normally that would have taken a target out but Prime was always different." 

Ironhide chuckled. "You don't know the half of it. Matrix is all kinds of special. Ya have any more combat skills?"

"I can shoot but mostly we either charged and rammed targets or combined and beat things up that way," Breakdown admitted knowing it made him sound even more useless than he already was. "Mostly I watched for problems and tried to avoid getting beat up." 

"We noticed," Sunstreaker sounded almost like he approved.

Ironhide cocked his helm and raked his gaze over his newest recruit. "Do you _like_ to fight, for fun?"

"Sparring is fine. I don't like waiting for repairs and being vulnerable after getting hurt. We worked together and protected each other. If I didn't fight; I didn't get protected," Breakdown said. Worried that they wouldn't like the answer he added, "I like the rush from a fight."

"Ever been racing, real racing where you try to go as fast as you can and not hit things?" Sideswipe asked. "It's a good rush too when we can't fight."

"Autobots don't expect everyone to fight to be protected," Ironhide said firmly. "We've got three pacifists on site now and several others that only fight when cornered."

"Why would you race and not hit things?" Breakdown asked Sideswipe curiously before switching his attention back to Ironhide. "I don't mind fighting and defending myself; I don't like to just attack everyone around me since that makes enemies that want to take me out later when I'm vulnerable. What's a pacifist?" 

"Because it really pisses off the officers and medics," Sunstreaker huffed. "Most folks don't have a personal force field."

"Someone who won't fight for any reason," the old warrior groused. "Beachcomber, Skyfire and First Aid."

Breakdown gave Ironhide a look of complete non-comprehension as he tried and completely failed to understand that statement. "So they'd rather offline than defend themselves even against someone like Vortex? Wait, how does Defensor manage to be as coherent as he is in combat? We had enough issues to make Menasor more than a bit crazy but at least we all agreed on fighting things. Even Bruticus agrees on that much." 

"I honestly never asked how Defensor manages to fight, though I know he rarely does. The other four don't mind it as much," Ironhide could only shrug. "Maybe you'd understand if you ask First Aid."

"Blades likes combat. I think he kinds of balances First Aid's pacifism in Defensor," Sideswipe offered.

"I guess it might make some sense to a medic but I think I'll leave it a mystery," Breakdown said as he shook off his train of thought as he pondered the idea of not fighting. It made absolutely no sense and was making his processor race in too many different directions. How could you protect yourself if you wouldn't fight? How did you keep from starving? Maybe the Autobots had always had enough energon to spare that they didn't need to squabble over it. They were certainly putting on a good show that it was true.

"Good choice," Sunstreaker snorted. "Good medic, scrambled processor."

"We'll take you out racing our way as soon as Ironhide bullies Prowl into okaying it," Sideswipe grinned at the old warrior.

"As if. You can't bully Prowl into anything. He'll either buy my logic or I'll go to Prime," Ironhide snorted. "Oh yeah, don't let either of these two convince you that pranks are fun. The punishments they shrug off won't be nearly so easy for you."

"Not going to do that," Breakdown promised. Pranks? Like what Rumble, Frenzy and Skywarp got up? Nope. He didn't have anyone to protect him from retaliation.

"Good," Ironhide nodded. "Did you read the rules on the datapad?"

"Yes," Breakdown said as he frantically accessed his memory files. There had been a lot of rules that didn't really make sense but hopefully he could fake his way through the coming test enough to convince them he understood. Not that he expected to be able to fool Ironhide especially with the twins staring at him like that. 

"What's the most important rule according to Prowl?" Ironhide began.

"Follow regulations," Breakdown replied thinking about the strictness of the tactician. Order and discipline seemed to be the focus of his existence. "followed by obey orders from superiors." 

"Good," Ironhide gave a pleased rumble and Sideswipe grinned in approval. "That order is critical when orders contradict regulations, regulations are what to follow. Can't say I've seen that kind of order in this unit, not with Prime and Prowl here, but in less disciplined units it happens." He paused and considered. "What regulation makes the least sense to you?"

"Protecting humans above attacking Decepticons. Why are we supposed to protect them when they are dumb enough to run into combat?" Breakdown asked. He really didn't like how they stared at him when he transformed, but he did like that they ran away from him and also made fun demolition derbies and stock races to compete in and win. Although Motormaster always won the demolition derbies. Wait....he wasn't online anymore so Breakdown would finally be able to win. Unless the Cons went to the next derby expecting him to show up to compete. 

Ironhide could only shrug. "It's an Optimus Prime thing. He values protecting local life over winning. It shouldn't be an issue for you unless you decide to become an Autobot warrior. If you stay in support you aren't likely to interact much with either group."

"Until I get attacked by Decepticons around the humans," Breakdown pointed out before cringing at having contradicted Ironhide. "They aren't going to forget that I turned traitor even if it was because they offlined my gestalt and tried to offline me." 

"That's unlikely to happen in the Ark or on our extended base," Ironhide pointed out. "You're never going to be assigned to guide a human around. Elsewhere you're to retreat."

"Run back to the Ark like Megatron just called retreat," Breakdown said drawing a muffled laugh from Sideswipe. "Thank you for not assigning me any humans. They leave things inside their vehicles." 

"You have no idea," Sunstreaker shuddered. "Oil and organic bits and dirt and..."

"In short, you aren't the first to be listed as not for human escort duty," Sideswipe chuckled. "I think it took a couple full orns to get Sunny feeling clean after the last one."

"Right on both counts. Any other regs not make sense?" Ironhide asked.

"It's not a reg but...you're in charge of us. I answer to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Who do I need to avoid to maintain your status?" Breakdown asked. Motormaster had always told them who he was currently allying with and who was causing them trouble. 

Ironhide took a moment to really think about the question in context. 

"Don't tick off any of the officers, but they don't fight that much here," Sideswipe said smoothly stepping into the conversation. "Prowl and Ultra Magnus don't get along but Ultra Magnus isn't here so you don't have to worry about that any time soon."

"Yeah, we're going to be in so much trouble if those two are on the same planet that regs are going to be the least of your worries," Ironhide's armor gave a ripple of displeasure. "What infighting that exists is generally kept in check by keeping mecha apart."

"Cliffjumper," Sunstreaker sneered. "He makes trouble for everybody. Leave him to us if we're around. Ignore him if we aren't." 

"Yeah, he's really good at being annoying," Sideswipe agreed.

"If he does start hassling you, comm me, Prowl or Red Alert," Ironhide added. "Red'll have vid to prove who started it and knows who to call. Prowl or I can stop the little glitch with a glare."

"I'll make certain to have all three comms on standby if I'm in public," Breakdown promised even as he calculated how to keep track of which officer was on duty at any given point. Waking an officer out of recharge for a minor reason would be a way to get in trouble. "Anyone else I need to worry about?"

"Don't get in the Dinobots' way if they are stomping through the halls. Although you might not have as much trouble getting knocked off your pedes when they push through," Sideswipe offered. "They won't be upset, they'll just shove you out of the way."

"Say clear of Wheeljack's lab too. I think that's a restricted area but it bears repeating," Ironhide added. "It's not restricted for intelligence reasons like Jazz' office. It's restricted for your health. You never know when it'll go boom."

"Though again, your shield might save you," Sideswipe agreed. "Still better safe than sorry where he's concerned."

"I remember when Wildrider tried to ram Sludge. Rumble called the results pinball," Breakdown said. He'd never thought of ricocheting off of things like that during an attack although Slag getting involved had definitely made it more challenging. It really had been a spectacular crash at the end. 

"Yeah, running inta one of them is like running inta a mountain," Ironhide chuckled. "You just don't have the mass to move'm so you end up bouncing off'm instead. Now, what reg do you expect the most difficulty with?"

"Not fighting when insulted by someone," Breakdown admitted. "I'm use to either being defended by my gestalt or having to defend us. If you didn't fight to defend yourself you wound up on the bottom of the pecking order. That meant less energon and worse quarters." 

"Yeah, it takes a lot of getting used to. Give it time. We managed. So will you," Sideswipe went somber in a sparkpulse. "That's another reason you're to never to be out of sight of one of us when in public," he motioned to the three Autobots. "If it's worth the fight, we'll do the fighting. We know when it's worth it and what the price of any given fight will be."

"And sometimes that price is they get in trouble," Sunstreaker grinned. "Prowl's getting harder on the troublemakers now that he's cooped up with little to do."

"So he pays more attention to the trouble since he has a smaller part of the war to control?" Breakdown pondered Prowl's position in the fighting. "Or because they can't get sent to someone else?" 

"First one. He's always been hands on with discipline," Sideswipe said. "Like a lot of older mecha he keeps as much of old his function as he can and he was a patrol officer, I think."

"Close enough and about right," Ironhide nodded. "He's always been a stickler for rules."

"No driving in the halls is going to be a challenging one. We always raced from place to place," Breakdown said even as he filed away Prowl's old position. He'd never dealt with a real Cybertronian patrol officer but he'd bet Prowl was more effective than the human patrols the gestalt used to drive off the roads. 

"Yeah, that one sucks," Sideswipe nodded. "Though really that one's not so much a rule as an added charge if you hit someone."

"Or something," Sunstreaker added. "Ratchet's the major offender of driving in the halls but he's the medic; he's allowed to."

"And Prowl when he's chasing someone," Sideswipe snickered. "And Jazz, just because he can," he snickered. "I don't recommend looking to Jazz as an example to follow. He's a fun mech to hang out with but half of what he gets away with is because of rank. Still, you should be used to walking by the time you're allowed anywhere on your own. Until then just stick with us."

"Okay, I intended to do that anyway. Safety in numbers," Breakdown replied, accepting that officers following different rules from soldiers was normal in both sides of the war. He wasn't willing to believe just yet that Jazz was fun to hang out with although maybe the twins liked to court danger by being near the head of SpecOps. Keeping on Jazz's good side was probably a good idea for long term survival. If he could figure out what it was. Admittedly safety in numbers in this case meant that the twins and Ironhide might be willing to have an excuse to dish out some retribution on someone that had already annoyed them if he got harassed. He was fairly sure there were at least a couple mecha on that list.

* * *

Three days and far too many tests, announced and otherwise, and Breakdown was immensely grateful to be following just the twins to get energon. Just them meant he was finally going to get out. It was a patrol and lots of rules to follow but he'd get to _drive_.

"Looking forward to some time on your wheels?" Sideswipe grinned at him with approval.

"This is the longest I've spent not driving," Breakdown admitted as he swallowed his energon. He'd been torn between sipping it to test for any impurities and gulping it to be prepared to get to stretch his wheels. He had no illusions they would be slow on the road.

"They're letting that Con out where he can escape and lead the Cons straight into our base," the red minibot grumbled loudly at a nearby table. 

"Ignore it." Sunstreaker rumbled quietly to Breakdown even as the yellow warrior's armor fluffed out in a clear warning.

"Then why don't you come make sure he doesn't," Sideswipe suggested sweetly in a way that set the entire room on alert.

Breakdown quickly gauged the reactions of those around them. There were a few random Autobots he hadn't met yet who were all paying attention to the minibot standing up and stalking toward their table. He was a bit surprised it was Sideswipe who was provoking things, but, knowing Sunstreaker's temper, he expected that it was a diversion to keep the damage to a minimum. He'd seen the Seekers do things like that back with the Cons.

"Cliffjumper," a yellow minibot Breakdown had pegged as Bumblebee from SpecOps called after his former tablemate. 

"I guess they decided to put the traitors in the same batch so they could watch all of you," Cliffjumper sneered. 

Sunstreaker's entire frame language shifted from annoyed to prepared to launch but he held there, almost quivering in the way entirely too reminiscent of Wildrider when forced to be still. Looking between the pair he was sure it was Sideswipe exerting control over their bond.

"You'd better be able to prove that," Sideswipe's snarl was nearly a match for his brother's. Breakdown thought it was scarier because he knew Sideswipe could keeps his processor in a fight.

"Your defending a cowardly Decepticon traitor that'll turn and run as soon as he's given the opportunity," Cliffjumper sneered as he glared at Breakdown.

Breakdown's processor raced even as he clenched a fist trying not to pound the minibot into the ground. Cliffjumper wanted them to attack him. The minibot wanted proof that Breakdown was a traitor and the twins would break the rules and he thought that taunting them would do it. There was no way Breakdown was going to give him the satisfaction of drawing a punch with just words; the rules said that wasn't an excuse for a fight. His processor raced as he scanned through his comm list. Ironhide was in recharge and waking a leader always got one slagged. Red Alert's comm....there. ::Red Alert, sir. Cliffjumper is provoking the twins and me. He wants a fight.:: 

The first sound across the comm was a pissed off hiss. ::Got it. Stay out of it. Prowl's on the way.:: Red Alert instructed.

"You'll have to take that up with Prime since he gave the order," Sideswipe sneered. "But we all know you're all bluff and no bang. You never have been worth your energon and you prove it with ever false accusation you make."

Before Cliffjumper could reply the room went deathly still and silent as the door opened. Even Sideswipe and Sunstreaker backed down their posturing. Breakdown pressed even further behind the twins shrinking back as far as he could. Red Alert had told him to stay out of it, and he was definitely avoiding any trouble with the Praxian if he could help it. Ticking Prowl off felt like ticking off Soundwave: incredibly dangerous to continued survival.

"These lousy traitors..." Cliffjumper started to say before being cut off abruptly by becoming aware of Prowl and the officer's anger.

"Cliffjumper, give me one good reason not to haul you to the brig on false accusations," Prowl demanded.

"He's a Con," Cliffjumper pointed in Breakdown's direction since he was firmly behind the twins. "He's only here because they want him to gain our trust so he can betray us."

::They offlined almost an entire gestalt to put me inside the Autobots? How powerful does he think I am? I'm useless to Megatron without the others,:: Breakdown couldn't help comming to Red Alert even though he didn't want to disturb the Security Officer. He was too terrified of Prowl at the moment to actually speak out loud, but he didn't want Cliffjumper's charges taking root with the Autobot officers. 

::He's his own kind of paranoid,:: Red Alert actually replied.

Prowl's expression went from anger to flat out pity before he went cold. "I realize that a functional processor is not required to be a warrior but even you should be able to grasp that offlining four of five gestalt members is not a viable tactic just to insert a spy. More to the point an accusation of treason without solid proof is a crime and I'm done covering for the glitch you refuse to admit to. You have five kliks to be in the brig before I start adding charges. Go."

"You'll see when he turns on us," Cliffjumper snarled before stomping out of the rec room.

::Thank you for helping prevent a situation, sir,:: Breakdown said to Red Alert trying to stay level-processored at the moment even though he wanted to curl up in a corner and hide from everyone and their staring optics. He'd freak out later that the Security Officer had almost possibly been on his side through this. He was too scared to say anything to Prowl. 

::It is part of my function,:: Red Alert actually sounded calm. ::You don't need to be afraid of Prowl right now. He's not angry with you..::

"If anyone else has issues bring them to my office. Or Jazz's. Make sure _that_ gets around," Prowl's sweeping glare pointedly skipped over Cliffjumper's three targets before he turned on heel and left.

"Wow," was all Sideswipe could manage for a moment.

~That was _awesome_.~ Sunstreaker would deny forever that he sounded like his brother in that moment.

"I hoped someone would come to handle things so we wouldn't get in trouble when I commed Red Alert but I didn't know it would be him," Breakdown whispered and began to ramble. He was barely keeping from pressing against Sunstreaker. It helped that he knew the warrior would be angry about a smudged paint job. "I didn't want to lose my first chance to really drive. I know Cliffjumper was trying to prevent it to drive me crazy with inactivity. I didn't expect Prowl. He's really scary. Not like Vortex or Motormaster where you're afraid for your frame when he loses it. More like Soundwave with that cold simmer of anger that no one wants to attract. Is he going to be mad I compared him to Soundwave? I really don't know who else to since I haven't met any other Autobots that scary yet." 

"Nah, he won't be angry. Come on," Sideswipe quickly pulled himself back to his duty and guided Breakdown with a touch that invited being pressed against. ::Hay Red, have him drive or hide?:: At an afterthought he copied that to Ratchet.

::Drive,:: Red Alert replied to Sideswipe while also tagging Jazz, Prowl and Ratchet into the conversation. ::If he doesn't get to go outside he'll convince himself he did something wrong. Contacting me was the right action in that instance. Stress that to him.::

::Reaching out to a stranger was a big step for him especially given all the changes he's had to deal with recently,:: Ratchet said gruffly as he reviewed the situation and privately cussed out Cliffjumper and his glitch. ::I'm not surprised Breakdown's regressing right now. Keep your optics on him but he does need to drive soon. Not doing it will make his paranoia worse.:: 

::Agreed,:: Prowl's tone was his usual calm. ::Reinforce he did the right thing. Take him out to the middle of nowhere to ram things,:: he added a map of where the bombing range was. ::No one will be there today.::

::Got nothing ta add. He did good. Make sure he knows it.:: Jazz spoke up.

::We'll fill Ironhide in on everything that happened,:: Ratchet growled. ::He'll agree with us on how it was handled on your end.::

::Thank you for controlling your tempers enough for Prowl to get there. It let Breakdown see that the system in his rules actually works while showing that you are willing to defend him,:: Red Alert added acknowledging the twins' efforts in the situation.

Breakdown was almost plastered against Sideswipe as the trio made their way quickly through the halls. Touching another mech like this that wasn't gestalt felt weird, but he got the feeling that Sideswipe might actually not mind given the state of his field. It wasn't long before he realized that they were headed for the entrance under the Ark's engines. The patrol was still on? They were still going to let him drive?

Asking almost felt like someone was going to rip it away from him. Maybe if he phrased it differently? "Are we still on the same patrol route?"

"Mostly. We get to make a stop out at the bombing range for a bit so we can all let off some steam after Cliffjumper's unprovoked rant," Sideswipe replied. "Prowl was pleased that we didn't get into a fight."

"Really?" Breakdown asked, straightening a bit despite himself. Having the tactician pleased with his actions was almost unbelievable, but he had followed regulations and Prowl was supposed to approve of that according to Ironhide. 

"Yap," Sideswipe grinned down at him. "The bomb range is fun too. Just stay inside the borders and you can run into anything you want."

"That isn't us," Sunstreaker was quick to add. "But otherwise everything there is there to be a target."

"Is that where the Dinobots go to smash things?" Breakdown asked trying to get his processor back in order. He had done what he was supposed to do and was being rewarded for preventing wasted resources on repairs. He wasn't going to be scrapped or starved for being weak enough to want help. The twins didn't even seem upset that he'd called for back-up. He'd find out later tonight in their quarters if they still felt that way. But Red Alert watched even there. Maybe out at the bomb range? No, they felt pleased through their fields. 

"When we can. They don't always make it out there before the games start," Sideswipe chuckled as they stepped out into the desert sunlight. The twins transformed. "Just follow us and say something if you pick up any Cons or something that doesn't seem right."

"Will do," Breakdown tried to pretend at formality even as he transformed and followed them with every sensor he had on high intensity especially aimed toward the sky. He did not want to get ambushed by the Seekers or the triple changers. He didn't think they knew he was actually leaving the Ark today, but it was possible that Laserbeak or Ravage had been snooping without being noticed. If he knew more about their spying spots he'd let Red Alert know, but they'd never bragged about them in the rec room. Unlike Rumble and Frenzy who would brag about anything. 

The drive was slow, even at its fastest it was barely twice what humans did. It left Breakdown itching to really _move_ but did give his sensors plenty of time to double and triple check everything. This dry territory was very different from the dense forests near the Nemesis or the cities. It would probably make great dust clouds if they headed off the road but it was doable if someone showed up to attack them. The terrain would play havoc with his undercarriage but escape was possible for him and the twins. Although they probably wouldn't run. Not that he wanted to run either but it made sense to be prepared. 

Had they ever run, from anything? Not on Earth he was sure. 

A shift in Sunstreaker's movement snapped Breakdown's attention to the pair before the sunshine yellow mech spoke.

"Get between us." 

Why would they want him between them? Was it so they could beat him from both sides? It took a few nanoklik for him to realize it was a protective spot like what Long Haul and Bonecrusher occasionally did for Scavenger. The twins would be on either side of him and would take any attack. It did weird things to his spark and processor that they were seemingly serious enough about protecting him to make those actions against potential Decepticons. Maybe the twins' actions regarding Cliffjumper wasn't an anomaly since he had been threatening although he hadn't had a chance to hurt anyone because Breakdown had called Red Alert? Naw, that was wishful thinking that would get him offlined.

It was strange to teek enjoyment in the pair at driving so slowly on dirt roads. Sunstreaker would take hours to clean up even if it didn't rain and turn the world to mud. It didn't look or read like it'd rain soon but he'd been caught by surprise before. Once there was a river hurtling towards him in a canyon with blue skies above. It swept him along for hours before spreading out thin enough to drive out of. Scrapper had called it a gully-wash when the Constructicons heard about what happened to him. Motormaster had been furious he'd been late getting back to the Nemesis since it made them look bad. At least his force field had kept him from getting dented as he bounced along the canyon. It had left him with a lasting appreciation for the force water could create.

The next bit of the drive was uneventful although Breakdown jumped a time or two when a large bird circled overhead. It was fairly close to Laserbeak's size so he didn't think the twins were too upset with him for being edgy around it. After his second jump he decided to ask Sunstreaker to try and get some attention off of himself. "I'm surprised you like being out here in this dust and debris given we have to go so slow to keep from getting your undercarriages scraped up. Is it too stifling in the Ark?" 

"Yes," came the succinct answer.

"Out here there are far fewer rules and far, far fewer mecha watching trying to get us in trouble," Sideswipe added.

"And fewer looking for trouble," Sunstreaker grumbled. "The dust sucks but the peace and quiet is worth it."

"Has anyone here mentioned starting a permanent second base to spread the forces out and speed up reaction times to Decepticon attacks? I know Starscream found it annoying that the Protectobots were hanging out in Japan for a while," Breakdown asked. The logistics of those kinds of decisions were far beyond his own abilities but getting Cliffjumper away from himself and the twins sounded like a great idea. 

"Yeah, it's talked about. Same with a base on the moon, Mars, over Venus or even further out. I expect it won't happen until Autobot City is settled in," Sideswipe chatted amicably.

"I hadn't heard of any major plans for another base among the Cons but I doubt anyone would've told me anything like that until I got sent there with the others," Breakdown said as they navigated around a bit of rubble and some scattered tumbleweeds. He didn't see any signs that anyone had planted it as a diversion but he kept a careful scan of the area just in case. Three curves later the terrain started showing more combat damage and remnants of explosions. 

"They still control Cybertron. They don't need any more bases. We're picking up small groups from all over the galaxy and need a place to put them," Sideswipe explained.

"I wonder why we...the Cons seldom go to Cybertron if that's the case," Breakdown fumbled and then cursed himself for having slipped up like that. If he'd done it in front of Cliffjumper he'd probably have been shot. 

"They do," Sunstreaker growled in deeply personal frustration. "They've got the space bridge. We have to use shuttles."

"Your unit was needed on Earth," Sideswipe suggested. "There are some scary Bots on Cybertron but most of Autobot command and our best are here on Earth."

"I guess until Motormaster snapped Megatron considered us loyal and scary enough to be needed here instead of leaving us there with Shockwave," Breakdown said, relieved that the pair hadn't jumped him for his slip-up. "I do remember Starscream ranting at one point because he wasn't authorized to go somewhere to see some of his Seekers. I thought it was weird he couldn't just walk down and talk to Dirge, but if he meant Cybertron that makes a lot more sense." 

"Yeah, most of the Seekers are still on Cybertron. I think there's only two, maybe three trines on Earth. There are still dozens on Cybertron," Sideswipe said before going silent in a way that put both the others on alert.

"Human," Sunstreaker pronounced and both he and his brother relaxed. "Commed in. Blaster'll warn him off."

"Or Prowl if he's persistent," Sideswipe snickered.

"Some of them try to sneak into the Nemesis. If they're lucky the symbiots deal with them," Breakdown said with a small shrug. "I can't feel any sympathy since they are dumb enough to try to go in there." 

He teeked how dumbfounded the pair were.

"Humans seriously try to get on the Nemesis? _We_ don't even do that!" Sideswipe stammered.

"Jazz does," Sunstreaker reminded him.

"I mean the two of us. We're sane compared to him," Sideswipe snickered. "I'm sure Mirage does too. But yeah, agree with you there. Any fleshie dumb enough to get into the Nemesis deserves what they get."

"Bumblebee's been there a time or two or at least been caught hanging around some of the Constructicons' project sites. Do you think the human is gone yet?" Breakdown asked. He hated being stared at by the little things, and they tended to do a lot of staring at his alt-mode. "Actually there are normally only two trines on the Nemesis. Three only happens when Megatron thinks Starscream needs some temporary back-up which isn't often."

"Or wants to mess with his processor. It's a great back handed complement." Sideswipe snickered. "And yeah, the human's gone. It was a little one seater. Those things don't have the best equipment but they're usually good about bugging out when told to."

"At least they know to book it when they are told to," Breakdown said even as he kept his sensors out for any more humans. They open area with piles of good-size boulders and debris pits looked like somewhere he could have a lot of fun driving and crashing around. 

Sideswipe pinged Breakdown a file. "That's the borders of the range. We can do anything here as long as no one needs Ratchet afterwards."

"Anything?" Breakdown asked as he studied the map thoroughly. There were areas where they could be ambushed or ambush others. That was probably part of the training even as he traced out routes they could use for a race. They'd have to watch a few corners for trouble with skids but it could be fun drifting around them.

"No one is going to be out here to ambush us," Sunstreaker said seeming to understand his concern. 

"Anything that doesn't send somebody to Ratchet," Sideswipe nodded. "We're the only ones on the range until dusk. Want to race us on the track or tear through the place?"

"Let's race first," Breakdown said after studying the course for a bit longer. It would give him a better idea if their engines were as similar as all three of their frames. "We can tear around and cause some havoc later." 

"Sounds great," Sideswipe rumbled and folded into his alt. "Three laps?"

"Sounds good," Breakdown said before gunning his engine and starting for the track ignoring Sideswipe's surprised yelp. ::You already know the course. I'm going to take every advantage I can get.::

~I'm starting to like his spunk when he's not freaking out,~ Sunstreaker mused silently as they all raced around the edge of the grounds.

~And _I'm_ liking that aft,~ Sideswipe rumbled as it wiggled in front of them.

Breakdown managed to stay ahead of them for a while although it was tough given how well they knew the course. His force field and willingness to get a bit scratched up were his biggest advantage against the pair. He couldn't help noticing that they were willing to throw some more aggressive moves into the race. It was a lot like racing with Dragstrip and Wildrider if they were trying to actually win and it was enjoyable.

~You planning to invite him over?~ Sunstreaker asked with some resignation but no objection.

~Not soon. He's a looker but he's way too likely to see it as a demand and refusal isn't an option at best,~ Sideswipe said.

~So you're going to wait for him to offer?~ Sunstreaker asked with a bit of doubt and approval in his voice.

Breakdown made his way through the first lap and tried to stay ahead of the twins. They hadn't set a prize for winning the race but he half expected them to demand to interface if they won. Wildrider had always insisted on it if he won a race among the four of them. No one dared even dream of demanding it from Motormaster even if they had dared to beat him. 

~Probably not, but he needs to be a lot more settled than this. You remember how we saw interest back when we joined,~ Sideswipe responded. ~Maybe he won't be as ready as Prime would like but I don't want it to be an order.~

~As long as he doesn't think he has to do it,~ Sunstreaker agreed after a bit of thought as they edged closer to Breakdown during one of the curves.

Breakdown skidded a bit on some sand and gravel and lost a length as he made his way out of the turn into a straightaway. Getting out of confinement and actually feeling the ground under his tires was exactly what he needed to help with his anxiety. Right now he didn't need to worry too much about having Seekers or triple-changers swoop down from the sky. Didn't he? 

The twins were suddenly much more focused on overtaking him. He was sure he was faster but they did know the track better and they had each other. Yet when Sideswipe got in teeking range the only thing in it was the joy of driving.

He fumbled a moment surprised by how simple the desire felt compared to the complexity of the gestalts' competitions while racing. They'd used the races to establish the group pecking order...maybe he should let the twins' win? They were enjoying the race right now but might not enjoy being beaten by a former Decepticon. It might be worth the potential immediate risks to make certain he didn't get viewed as uppity and ostracized by the main allies he had right now. They had treated him well so far. Better than even his gestalt had. Yes, letting them, or at least one of them win was a good choice. Even if that suited their worst reputation he wouldn't be as bad as Motormaster.

Suddenly Sideswipe edged past him on a turn and he was caught by both their fields and how calm the pair felt. There wasn't a trace of anger in either one, just the joy of speed. It was a bit refreshing to feel such simple emotions around him even as he wondered if it was being faked by the pair. He couldn't figure out why Sunstreaker would be faking his current feelings.

~He's not completely lost in the race is he?~ Sunstreaker observed from the back of the group. Being back here let him protect the others while still enjoying the race. Having gravel and dirt sprayed at him was annoying but worth it right now. 

~I doubt it,~ Sideswipe replied. ~I think he's debating how hard to try and pass me. It's a risk either way, to him.~

~Having to do that kind of power-playing all the time must be frustrating,~ Sunstreaker almost growled. ~I doubt he even got a break in his gestalt. Hot Spot is going to flip when he finds out how dysfunctional things actually were. First Aid never really appreciated how lucky he really was to wind up with that group.~ 

~So will Silverbolt. Aid's lucky but they do drive him crazy. He really doesn't fit in with them all that well,~ Sideswipe said with more certainty than the scraps of information he had should lend to.

~You getting more friendly with him?~ Sunstreaker asked noting that Breakdown was firmly between the pair and was making only futile attempts to pass Sideswipe. He didn't see how a long term relationship between the two could work given their differences, but Sideswipe was a lot more open to casual relationships. Having another medic willing to work on them wasn't a bad thing. 

~Very carefully,~ Sideswipe admitted. ~I like his extreme, the extremes. Can't get much more different from us than him. But mostly I catch his look or teek when I'm watching over you and they come in to drag him off. They're bonded bothers, like us. They drive him crazy but he still loves them. He's surprisingly honest about it late at night if you don't seem to object.~

~Guess we have more in common with them than most,~ Sunstreaker said grudgingly even as he privately admitted it would help them understand Breakdown better. The idea of losing Sideswipe was horrifying, and he was equally amazed and appalled that Breakdown was handling the multiple losses so well. 

~Yeah, I think there's a big thing every mech created with a bond has. And yes, he's handling this entirely too well. I hope it's because he's so incredibly young that the bond just isn't strong,~ Sideswipe murmured and didn't say he really believed it was weak because they were all too broken to form emotional attachments. As mangled as the twins knew they were they were an order of magnitude healthier than the Stunticons seemed to have been.

The last lap of the race started with Sideswipe in the lead. Breakdown was doing his best to keep ahead of Sunstreaker. Beating one of the twins seemed like a better option than losing to both of them. It never occurred to him that he was in the middle because they wanted him there as a subtle show of protection. No matter what else was going on he was their charge and they protected what was theirs.

Eventually they finished the final lap and skidded to a halt. "Congrats," Breakdown told Sideswipe mentally bracing himself for whatever reward the frontliner might claim. It couldn't be worse than Motormaster; Sideswipe was a lot smaller physically and had already said they shouldn't damage themselves out here. 

"Thanks. You're fast. Another race or tear up the range?" Sideswipe grinned.

"How about both?" Breakdown asked impulsively amazed that Sideswipe wasn't crowing over him for winning or demanding any favors. It was making him a bit giddy and impulsive, something he knew he would probably regret in a few kliks. "I can knock things around and you can dodge them and me while heading around the course. We can always tell Ratchet it's actual practice unless you think he'll get mad."

"I'm game," Sideswipe's optics glittered to match his grin.

"I'll stand guard," Sunstreaker said firmly. "Up there," he pointed to a spot well out of the way of casual hits.

Belatedly Breakdown realized not having a berserker involved in this kind of race was probably a good idea. Especially one that wasn't completely convinced he was on the same side. Were they on the same side? They were against the Decepticons so that at least made them allies. Didn't it? He'd heard Thundercracker occasionally talk about the enemy of an enemy...was this that situation. Shaking off the musing, he revved his engine and headed straight for a smaller boulder to the side of the course.

Sideswipe wasn't consciously expecting the advantage of his brother's overview but he didn't hesitate to take it when dodging advice was offered.

By the fourth boulder it was becoming rather fun. Breakdown never stayed on a straight course and was constantly bouncing all over. It should have slowed him down but the force field and the additional speed from the impacts meant that he could slide over the rougher parts around the track and avoid some parts entirely. Watching him sail by sideways was more than a bit distracting while trying to stay on course.

Breakdown missed having the others out here with him to cause even more chaos, but it was probably better with it being Sideswipe's first time that it was only him. Breakdown did manage to nearly clip Sideswipe once. He was fairly certain that Sunstreaker was giving Sideswipe some help. Having a spotter made it even more fun since it meant that Sideswipe didn't get wiped out after the first triple ricochet with a sideways slide that passed just microns behind the other Lamborghini. If Sideswipe didn't have a great engine the advice wouldn't have helped. 

On another pass he heard Sideswipe whoop and cheer him on.

Wildrider used to do that as they raced and tore through the streets and tracks. Hearing the familiar whoops and cries in an unfamiliar voice he misjudged one angle and went flying wildly as he sailed backwards down the track only to bounce between three boulders before crashing through a large pile of debris he was fairly certain was a Dinobot creation. It left him buried up to his windshield in rubble.

::Stay put. We'll get you out!:: Sideswipe's comm came before Breakdown thought to transform to get himself out.

::Not hurt just mildly stuck,:: Breakdown replied. Really it wasn't any worse than any other crashes during pinball. At least this time he wasn't being dug out of a wall or getting yelled at by Scrapper because he'd made more work for the Constructicons. Ratchet wasn't going to be upset was he? There weren't any warnings on his HUD and neither twin had been damaged. There was a bit of rumble-moving and then Sunstreaker grabbed his aft end and pulled him clear with a small thump of his front in hitting the ground before his rear was dropped the short distance.

"That was fun!" Sideswipe's grin looked fit to split his faceplates. "Go again?"

"After I'm out of the way!" Sunstreaker snarled and took off for his vantage point.

"Ready when you are," Breakdown said with a real smile as they waited for Sunstreaker to reach safety. 


	2. Chapter 2

Breakdown sat down across from Sunstreaker and waited for Sideswipe to settle beside his twin. It was slowly getting easier not to immediately swallow his energon but he kept a firm grip on the cube anyway. No one was taking his fuel. Except maybe Optimus Prime, but he didn't think Prime would do something like that. Unless he was really hungry. Even then he would probably ask. With those optics and voice that seemed to get everyone to do whatever he wanted without lifting a finger, much less his voice. It was the strangest thing but Breakdown thought it make sense in some undecipherable Autobot way.

When the twins were about halfway through their cubes Sunstreaker was quiet and watchful while Sideswipe chatted up anything that came close enough, warrior, scientist, officer, even Blaster. Though the telepath kept more distance than most.

"Aid! I see they dragged you out to fuel," Sideswipe was grinned as he waved at the Protectobots. First Aid separated from the rest of the gestalt with an affectionate wave before approaching Sideswipe.

Breakdown slipped in a quick glance at the Protectobots as the medic moved closer to their table. He was certain they were keeping a cautious eye on him. Why wouldn't they? He was a potential threat and First Aid was a pacifist. He brushed aside the small ache in his spark. Gestalts looked after each other against outsiders. That was the way it was on both sides. Right? Except he didn't have his gestalt and the Autobot did.

"You're looking good," the shy ambulance smiled after a critical optic on each of them. "I'm glad your new duties haven't driven you ragged."

"No way. He's a blast to have around. We had so much fun on the grounds the other day," Sideswipe didn't even try to dampen how much fun he had.

"Oh?" First Aid asked glancing over at Sunstreaker for confirmation, who snorted but seemed amused by Sideswipe's enthusiasm.

"It was crazy to watch," Sunstreaker confirmed. "Breakdown played pinball around Sideswipe while driving. Trying to direct him away from the track."

"We used to do it for fun bouncing off one another and seeing how much chaos we could cause," Breakdown said. He'd never get to do that again would he? 

"I believe it," First Aid looked at Breakdown. "Have you ever gone up against Trailbreaker's force field?"

"No but Dragstrip did smack into him once during a fight. It was a bit like feeling Motormaster crash into Prime although not quite as spectacular," Breakdown said. "It might be fun to see how his field reacts with mine during pinball." 

"That was our thought, if he is willing. If you are both in a battle it would be good to know how the fields interact," First Aid said cautiously as he humored his gestalt.

"He's not going back to battle," Sideswipe shook his helm. "Prowl wants him in admin or somethin' safe."

"But if I do get attacked I need to know in case I have to hide behind Trailbreaker like I've seen some of the minibots do during combat," Breakdown offered hesitantly watching Sideswipe's reaction to his observation. "Would Prowl object to that kind of preparation?"

"Prowl object to preparation?" Sunstreaker scoffed. 

"He'll probably encourage it as soon as he hears," Sideswipe agreed. "It's not a bad idea. Just pointing out you aren't to be a warrior here."

"How could I be? I've always fought with others and now I'm by myself," Breakdown said with a shrug trying to ignore First Aid's wince. 

"You survived," Sideswipe looked at Breakdown seriously. "You can learn to fight solo if you want to. We can teach you that much. We both know how to fight solo when we have to."

"Yeah. It sucks but you can learn. You're too young to give up," Sunstreaker said even knowing it didn't express his intent very well.

"Dead End would say I'm already screwed. Maybe I should just throw all my cares to the wind. What did he know?" Breakdown sighed and then winced remembering the cycles of weird conversations the two of them had once had. 

The twins shared a glance and Sideswipe silently shooed First Aid away.

"Come on," Sunstreaker stood with full intent on getting to their quarters before Breakdown had a breakdown.

"Hey, I might not always be alone you know," Breakdown said to the twins with a weirdly hollow voice. "I was wondering if Prowl was keeping me around as a temporary or permanent swap-in substitute for Defensor if any of the non-core were injured. It would make sense to keep them from being out of commission."

"That's not possible," First Aid said flatly as the three stood.

"Really?" Breakdown looked at First Aid with a blank face. "You mean I'm going to be alone and empty forever?"

"Let's go," Sunstreaker said as he made to clear the way to the door. Hot Spot had moved to grab First Aid's shoulder and pull him back into the clutches of his brothers. He had a very disturbed look on his face. 

"No, you don't have to be alone forever," Sunstreaker said quietly as they stepped into the hall. "You can still spark bond. Even we can, if we find somebody we both agree on."

"Who'd want a former Decepticon?" Breakdown muttered as the pair shuffled him through strangely the hall.

::Thanks for clearing the hallway,:: Sideswipe said to Red Alert.

::Stay with him. He needs to know you will support him when he collapses,:: the Security Director replied after a long pause.

::Will do,:: Sideswipe promised before focusing on Breakdown. "Someone who sees past that."

"Somebody like us," Sunstreaker said in a very low voice. "Like Ironhide, Skyfire, Perceptor, Ratchet, Drift, Springer. There are plenty of mecha who don't care much about used to be."

"I can't let anyone in ... I'll lose everything again," Breakdown muttered as he clung to the twins.

::This is your tipping point,:: Inferno commed Sunstreaker quietly. ::He'll either cling to you or extinguish himself soon from despair. Red never got this bad but I found references to others who did.:: 

::Right. We'll take care of him,:: Sunstreaker replied in full stubborn mode as their door opened at his ping.

"You don't have to let someone in that deep to have friends or a lover," Sideswipe said as he got Breakdown on the couch between them. "It's worth the loss to have the company while they're around."

"Way to get hurt," Breakdown muttered into Sidewipe's shoulder before trying to pull away. "Don't want to bother you too much. Always bothering everyone...." 

"You don't bother us," Sunstreaker nudged him back against Sideswipe and carefully embraced the shaking mech so the twins were between him and everything.

"We wouldn't be here if you bothered us," Sideswipe added. "We're not under orders. We didn't have to take you in."

Breakdown broke down with an incoherent wail and began to sob and shake. He was being comforted by those he'd been created to consider enemies. His so-called allies had destroyed his gestalt that hadn't even really wanted him judging how Motormaster had acted. How long he could expect this to last? They had no bond to him, no use for him. He was a weakness to them and they still protected him. It would end. Everything did. But even if that was tomorrow they were willing right now. They were here right now. He was somehow still alive right now. Maybe he could keep them around a bit longer? He didn't have much to offer them except to be a target and maybe a stress relief for when they needed relaxation. If he didn't fight them maybe they would keep him? It felt nice here between them.

"You're safe with us, Breakdown," Sideswipe murmured. "Nobody's going to hurt you."

Was he really safe? The twins couldn't protect him from Megatron. He was too powerful for them. Although Optimus and the gestalts might be able fend him off. Omega Supreme, Defensor and Superion could hold off the Decepticon gestalts if they wanted to. Omega Supreme hated the Constructicons so he would go for them no matter what. The twins might be able to fight off the Seekers. They liked to attack the Seekers in the air. Maybe...possibly...he might be able to survive for a bit longer. His odds here, with the twins, were definitely better than anywhere else he could think of.

And it felt nice surrounded by such strong fields and powerful frames that weren't full of hate, fear and depression.

He took a chance and let his grief flow out tentatively hoping it would be buffered by the doubled-fields around him. They pair accepted it, held him tightly and were simply quiet as his grief began to engulf them all.

* * *

Breakdown hesitated and thought seriously again about what he was planning to do. Falling apart with the twins over his losses had made him realize how isolated he really was here even though Sunstreaker and Sideswipe appeared to be trying to take Wildrider and Dragstrip's place in his life. That extra bit of connection was making him uneasy around Ironhide. Oh, he was nowhere near as violent or aggressive as Motormaster, but he was still in charge and was remarkably distant from Breakdown. It was a situation that couldn't continue if Breakdown was going to try and continue to survive here. Venting and forcing his trembling hands steady, he opened a connection. ::Ironhide, could I speak to you here? At your convenience of course.:: 

::Sure. I'll swing by when the meeting's over. Probably a couple breems,:: Ironhide's easy drawl came back.

::I'll be waiting, sir,:: Breakdown said before starting to pace in his quarters. It wasn't the best way to work off nervous energy and fight down his growing panic about what his coming actions might cause, but it was really his only option since the twins were off doing something he couldn't join. Probably weapon training since Cliffjumper and others would throw a fit if they saw Breakdown with a blaster. Not that he'd blame them; he really hadn't been here long enough to be trusted with something like that. He wasn't an Autobot either. Just a neutral doing simple grunt work to earn his keep. As weird as it was he'd never had it so good.

He was still pacing when Ironhide pinged the door to open and stepped inside. "What did'ja need to talk about?"

He almost lost his nerve as the more bulky mech effectively filled the room with both size and presence. Pulling himself back together and reminding himself that the twins seemed to like Ironhide he asked, "Are you angry or disappointed in me, sir?" 

"No. You're doing quite well," Ironhide answered with a shift in his manner towards less confrontational and remembered Inferno's advice that Breakdown needed praise far more than most.

Breakdown hesitated before deciding to risk mentioning the information that the Decepticons considered common knowledge about Prime's bodyguard. "Do you find me physically displeasing then? I mean, I know I don't have a frame like Chromia but most mecha seem to find me tolerable enough to look at that they would be interfacing with me by now." 

Ironhide signed to himself. "Prime would flay anyone who 'faced an unwilling partner. Given my rank over you I can't make the first move. Neither can the twins. If you want to 'face ya godda make the first move."

Breakdown gave him a completely confused look that was almost like Prowl just before he was about to glitch. It was obvious that something about Ironhide's statement just wasn't translating for the Stunticon. "So you want me to kneel beg for your spike in public so Prime can see I am willing? I can do that if it is what you want." It wouldn't be worse than some of the things Motormaster had demanded. 

"No. You don't need to beg. It doesn't need to be in public," Ironhide regarded the stunt car. "Why do you want me? You've got the looks to have almost anyone."

"You're my team leader. I'm supposed to keep you satisfied and in return you protect me from outsiders who want to hurt or use me. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are dominant over me, but they answer to you. You keep us from getting bad assignments and make certain we have good quarters like this," Breakdown felt a bit surreal trying to explain what was to him obvious. Maybe Ironhide was trying to trick him? Although he couldn't figure out what he'd gain. 

"Ah, that I understand," Ironhide relaxed as the explanation linked it to a term he'd used his entire existence. "What you did as default Autobots expect to be asked for. I'm used to hearing it as asking for a protection deal," he explained. "Is there anything else you want in exchange for warming my berth?"

"I need to know whether to go to First Aid or Ratchet to repair any damage. First Aid has been acting weird around me, but Ratchet is the main medic and probably shouldn't be bothered by anything minor since he'll probably get frustrated with me interrupting him," Breakdown muttered as he scanned his processor for anything else Ironhide could give him. Fuel, protection, quarters....what more could a mecha want? 

"Go to whoever is in medbay that shift," Ironhide answered easily and sat down on the couch in an open, relaxed sprawl. "First Aid is acting strange because you make him think about what it would be like to lose his gestalt. It won't affect his treatment of you. As for Ratchet ... yeah, he curses a lot but it's his way of showing his cares and how serious the repair is. The louder the cursing the less spark threatening it is. Remember what your state of repair was when you first booted up here? That's Ratchet's standard. Anything self repair can't fix in an orn he expects a medic to fix. It's just how he runs things."

"You go to them that often?" Breakdown found the idea of bothering Hook that often baffling. Minor things were never brought to the Constructicon's attention unless you wanted to be turned into spare parts. "Doesn't that waste resources?" 

"A force that is in good repair fights better, but mostly it's Ratchet's standard. Every CMO will have a different standard, though I'm sure First Aid's will match Ratchet's. I'm sure Hook only wants to deal with what self repair can't," Ironhide guessed. "If you aren't sure ask one of us. We're all experienced in what Ratchet expects to see and what we can let self repair handle. Teaching you things like that is part of our duties to you."

"And I repay the help by keeping you comfortable and happy. That means you help me more. Is that what the datapad meant by mutual agreement?" Breakdown asked as he began piecing together some of the stranger parts of the rules with his own experiences. 

Ironhide nodded. "Yes. Sometimes all that each party wants it an overload that night. Other times it's longer term like what we're talking about. As long as both sides agree to what's happening without threat being used that's mutual agreement."

"So if someone tries to threaten me to make me interface I can comm Prowl because that's against the rules. Even if it is someone that outranks me and can tell me what to do?" Breakdown tested the thought process. He wasn't certain he'd be able to follow through with this even if it was expected of him. Starscream would have shot him if he'd reported someone wanting to 'face him. 

"Right. No one has the right to order another to interface," Ironhide said firmly. "If Prowl's too intimidating to call then comm me, the twins or any other officer. Red Alert's a good choice. You did good with your last call to him. You're part of his domain now and he's protective of you too."

Breakdown preened a bit at the praise for not fighting. He'd had very limited contact with Red Alert but everything he'd heard said they had a bit too much in common to be comfortable together any time soon. "So if I say I want to have a protection deal with you it means Optimus Prime won't be upset about us interfacing?" 

"Nah, he won't be upset. Likely confused but that's for me to deal with. These deals aren't natural to him the way it is to some," Ironhide explained. "I accept your proposition of a protection deal, Breakdown."

"Thank you for accepting and explaining things to me," Breakdown said, relieved to have something else familiar as an anchor in this unfamiliar world. 

"Now come here. Have you had a good valve overload?" Ironhide rumbled with anticipation and planning this on the fly.

"Dead End was pretty good at it," Breakdown said as he looked over Ironhide's frame. He wasn't as big as Motormaster which was probably a good thing given how hard had been to take that spike on occasion. When his spike cover opened and it pressurized he was happy his judgment was right. It was bigger than his own but not nearly as big as Motormaster. It wasn't as brutal either. For as much rank as Ironhide had his spike was simple.

"Sit on my knees," Ironhide instructed.

He'd expected to be ordered to kneel between Ironhide's knees but he obliged by settling on Ironhide's knees facing him although he kept his optics glued to the warrior's chest. Actually looking at him was just too much right now even though he'd expected things to progress if he was accepted. He saw enough to know both arms moved. Felt one hand rest on his side and lightly caress him there. The other went between his parted legs and caressed his valve cover.

Habitually he snapped it open before it could be torn or damaged. He wasn't slick or aroused yet but Ironhide didn't seem to be the type to take him completely dry. Breakdown was certain that'd be more damage than he'd want to explain to Ratchet. Knowing he had a protector now with some power, Breakdown activated a small bit of coding he and the others had created a while back. It made his valve start to slick a bit quicker than it would on its own. Not enough to annoy Motormaster with the fake display but it was enough to prevent serious damage during a spiking.

Ironhide stroked through platelets, his touch light enough to avoid damage while still stimulating them. His other hand stroked armor and what little cabling was available. 

It was all Breakdown could do to give him that much access even with the reward of the small sparks of pleasure the touch on his side caused. Exposing cabling was just too risky even for pleasure. Valves could be replaced or repaired as needed; it wasn't necessary for movement or survival. The lack of claws in his valve was surprising and didn't quite trigger his nodes like he was used to although after a moment the delicate touch was appreciated. "What do you want me to do with my hands, sir?" 

"Touch me back, but leave my spike alone. I want plenty of endurance left when you're slick and hot enough to enjoy it," he rumbled eagerly, already drawn in by the sparks of pleasure he was causing.

Touch without touching the spike or the valve if he could reach it. Breakdown just couldn't see Ironhide wanting him to do that with the instructions given. Instead he ran his hands along the edges of Ironhide's chestplate careful to avoid the appearance of an attack even as he admired the strong frame. This was a warrior who didn't need to terrify subordinates into obedience, a treacherous part of his processor that had always hated Motormaster whispered. That small voice kind of liked Ironhide even as it doubted they would be able to keep him for long. He could still enjoy it while he had it and he intended to.

"Yeah, I like that," Ironhide rumbled encouragement to the touching he liked and to the background teek of appreciation. It had been ages since he'd made one of these deals. Really not since Optimus had come into his own and the unit Ironhide was in became internally safe. When the worst threat was Cliffjumper's mouth no one really needed an officer. It was honestly kind of nice to feel needed like this again and by a looker of a mech at that. He hadn't been joking that Breakdown could have pretty much any berth he wanted.

Ironhide was honestly surprised at how little damage he could feel given he could also feel it wasn't a new array. Maybe Ratchet had done some work.

Breakdown took note of Ironhide's fingers tracing the scars in his valve. Motormaster had never liked sharing them with the other Cons, and they'd all learned fairly quickly how to gauge his mood and figure out what or who would please him. If he'd wanted defiance Motormaster grabbed Wildrider or Dragstrip. If he wanted submission he went for Breakdown or Dead End. He never took this kind of time to warm him up. Dead End barely did and he liked it when they both overloaded.

It was weird to feel the beginnings of naturally triggered lubricant in his valve while with his boss but it was welcome too. So was the pride/approval in Ironhide's field. Maybe he was like Dead End and liked to overload with his playmate. It'd hardly be the strangest quirk Breakdown had seen.

That would be some of the things he'd seen from the Combaticons. Slamming that memory file closed he threw his attention completely on to Ironhide. If Ironhide wanted Breakdown to overload naturally for him those kind of memories needed to be blocked. Working to get a pleased rumbled out of Ironhide's engine was the next step. A few long strokes across Ironhide's shoulders and a tentative nibble along the edge of his shoulder. Nothing but submission and desire in Breakdown's field. He wasn't completely faking it. Having a boss that wanted mutual pleasure not pain was incredibly attractive. 

When Ironhide pressed a finger into his valve even Breakdown was surprised at how slick he was. He barely felt the intrusion and what he did feel was nice. This was far beyond the courtesy he normally got from a partner even from Dead End. If Ironhide was serious about this being how Autobot relationships normally were it was definitely another benefit to being here. Shifting his hips a bit caused the finger to move against a node drawing a small sound which he quickly tried to swallow in case the sound bothered his boss. 

Instead Ironhide rumbled with approval and withdrew his hand. Both hands found Breakdown's hips and guided the smaller mech forward and up to take Ironhide's thick spike inside. Sliding down the spike went much easier than normal with all the lubricant in his valve. There were no bumps or ridges to further stimulate or catch on nodes, but Breakdown felt comfortably full. Not filled almost to tearing like with Motormaster but more filled than he ever had with one of the others. Mindful that he was supposed to be pleasuring his boss, Breakdown started to move back up the spike. He'd stop if Ironhide kept him pressed down of course. Maybe he liked feeling a valve wrapped all the way around him? 

"Oh yeah," Ironhide moaned and rocked into Breakdown's motions with only subtle guiding. The more Breakdown believed he was pleasing on his own the better Prime would take it and the easier it would be to transition to some of the other positions Ironhide liked. Just imaging this lithe creature on his hands and knees, completely covered by his bulk, caused Ironhide's hips to jerk upwards with a hungry groan.

Rippling started around Ironhide's spike as Breakdown activated the small valve modification he'd paid dearly for although it had been worth it since it had derailed Motormaster's anger several times. It dragged a ragged moan from Ironhide mixed with a teek of surprise and a rush of pleasure that saturated the bigger mech's field.

Breakdown almost snickered but kept it to a pleased grin. Surprising a boss was always risky but Ironhide definitely had a better temper than Motormaster. In a way the warrior reminded him a bit of Scrapper. He'd always been a bit jealous of the Constructicons for having a common goal beyond simply tearing up the roads. Not that he'd ever told anyone else that since it would be suicidal to imply Motormaster was anything but a good leader. Still Ironhide had done more for him than Motormaster ever had so it was appropriate to reward him. Even though he seemed insatiable right now and was showing no signs of overloading. Breakdown briefly wondered if he'd be able to last long enough to satisfy the warrior. 

"Gonna hav'ta work on my endurance for you," Ironhide panted as he thrust. "Never last long enough for you ta overload twice."

Breakdown cocked his head and twisted his hips a bit to drive Ironhide a bit crazier. "Why would I overload before you? You're the boss. It's my responsibility to keep you satisfied and happy. Me overloading is a reward for pleasing you properly." 

Ironhide could only groan before he grabbed Breakdown's hips and pulled him tight for the first burst of transfluid with a roar.

Smiling in satisfaction Breakdown let himself milk the spike before allowing himself a small overload. It was a lot safer being the more aware one during interfacing, and he always tried to stay aware in case of trouble. The one thing he was going to try to refuse Ironhide was a spark merger. The idea of exposing it to anyone new was almost enough to cause him to panic and lock himself in his quarters. 

"Primus you are good at that," Ironhide's words were a bit slurred and his field deeply content. "The old mech just likes to prove he's still got it enough to keep up with the youngsters," he chuckled and stroked his hands along Breakdown's sides while he retracted his spike slowly, enjoying the last slide of the orn.

"You're more than enough to satisfy me," Breakdown said truthfully. His valve wasn't sore in the least, and his frame was sated in a way that he'd normally only gotten from playing with Dead End. This arrangement was going to work well for him as long as he could keep Ironhide happy and satisfied. From today he was reasonably sure that wouldn't be difficult.

* * *

Sharing the common room with the twins was still a bit nerve-wracking although it was not quite as bad as it was at first. The pair reminded him a little bit of Wildrider and Dragstrip although the similarities were become less pronounced as he spent more time with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The pair were closer to each other than any of the members of the gestalt had been. Despite Sideswipe's attempts at welcome Sunstreaker still made Breakdown a bit uncomfortable since he had a tendency to stare at the mecha around him. Honestly the only reason it was tolerable at all was because he did do it to everyone, even his brother. 

This time he had an extra-large datapad he was constantly scribbling on between long looks at Breakdown while Breakdown and Sideswipe played some video game. The game system was better than anything he'd used on the Nemesis although Dead End had enjoyed a weird human game called Frogger that involved running over amphibians.

He probably would have been better at the game if he hadn't kept glancing at Sunstreaker trying to see if he was staring even more than usual and what he was writing on that pad. Was it all the reasons he hated Breakdown? Reasons to get out of this assignment? Ways to maul him? He almost dropped the controller when he caught Sunstreaker's gaze directed at his shoulder. Was Sunstreaker contemplating ripping off the arm he was staring at so intensely? Was he debating how to dismember Breakdown and dispose of his frame? The twins could probably do it. He knew from hearing gossip around them in the rec room that the twins were skilled at playing pranks and hiding things from the officers. Skywarp had taught him that pranks could turn brutal to deadly.

~You might need to show him what you're doing. He's starting to freak out,~ Sideswipe warned his brother without any outward hint.

~Fine,~ Sunstreaker grumbled even as he tried to keep himself as outwardly calm as possible. He hated letting others see his work especially when it was unfinished but they didn't need Breakdown freaking out about them. They'd supported him through the anticipated meltdown over his gestalt loss and it had disturbed both twins. Inferno had warned them that the last thing Breakdown needed was to have that bit of developing stability ripped away. Having exposed himself to them like that he was bound to be even more paranoid that they were going to turn on him. 

~It'll be okay,~ Sideswipe encouraged his brother to lean on his strength before focusing on Breakdown when a level break came. "Want to see what he's doing?"

Breakdown jolted and flicked a glance at Sideswipe. They were going to show him the datapad? Sunstreaker had probably already hidden his lists of reasons to offline Breakdown, but a careful search of the pad could probably find it unless Sunstreaker was the one who normally hacked cameras and changed feeds. "If Sunstreaker doesn't mind." 

"I mind. It's not finished," Sunstreaker huffed even as he shifted to extend the datapad to Breakdown. "You can still look."

He wasn't done with the datapad? Was this interruption going to be added to list of reasons that Sunstreaker was disgusted with him? Hesitantly taking the datapad Breakdown braced himself for the worst and took a look at it. The open screen held a simple sketch, just sweeping lines to capture the moment of himself and Sideswipe playing. Off to one side of that was a more refined set of lines that could only be the shoulder Sunstreaker had been studying. There were two facial sketches too, actually one was likely all but finished and Breakdown had to stare for a long klik to grasp the beautifully crafted features were his own.

Breakdown stared at the image in confusion and even turned it upside down to get a better grasp of the drawings and see if anything was hidden in the lines of the sketches. Sideswipe looked good but was obviously not the focus. The detail work was incredible for its brevity and compelling nature. Sunstreaker thought he looked like that? 

Breakdown _felt_ the nervousness building on his right. It was just like his own energy when he started to get wound up. Was Sunstreaker nervous about Breakdown's opinion of the drawings? That was a kind of insecurity he'd never pictured in the berserker, but he'd also never expected this kind of work could come from someone believed to be so violent and narcissistic. Maybe there was more under that frame than he'd suspected. "It's beautiful. Is that actually what I look like to you?" 

"Yeah. I draw what I see," Sunstreaker nodded sharply before he'd processed the approval and began to relax just a bit.

"Your processor has a flattering viewpoint," Breakdown continued to study the images for any hidden messages. Eventually he had to admit to himself that it was just a drawing. His new teammate wanted to draw him but that involved staring. He debated a lot before speaking up about the situation. "I don't like people looking at me, but if we could work out a signal that you want to draw I might be able to tolerate it for a bit. I'll need to be able to signal that I can't take the staring anymore." It wasn't a good solution but the best he could think of right now. If Sunstreaker honored that agreement it would be another sign that they were going to respect his boundaries. Just like Ironhide had during their interfacing session. 

"How about I want to draw you and stop staring?" Sideswipe suggested.

"That would work in here. Do you draw in the rec room? We'd need a different signal there," Breakdown said thinking about Sunstreaker's reluctance to attract attention to his drawings. 

"Never draw in public," Sunstreaker shook his helm sharply. "I hate folks seeing unfinished work as much as you hate being looked at."

"You also sometimes don't think when you get in the mood," Sideswipe said more thoughtfully than confrontationally. "Can I give the warning too? It'll still be in here, but Sunny's drawing you."

"Sounds like we should just be blunt with each other," Dropping his gaze from the screen, Breakdown handed the datapad back to Sunstreaker. "It frags me off when someone knows how I react and still intentionally stares just to provoke me. You're not trying to provoke trouble; I'll try to keep that in mind with you practicing your art." 

"Thanks, and no, I'm not trying to harass you," Sunstreaker gratefully took back the precious art datapad. "That's Cliffjumper's thing."

"Blunt is good. Neither of us are much on subtlety," Sideswipe nodded. "Ironhide's the same way. He's seen too much to be much on dancing around it."

"I think I can work with that," Breakdown agreed even as he started contemplating how he was going to have to be the one to manage the more subtle Autobots. Jazz wasn't a concern right now since he seemed to feel responsible for Breakdown losing his gestalt. How long that would last was anyone's guess. Hopefully it would last long enough for Breakdown to make himself more useful to the team. It was the best idea he'd had for long-term survival.

"Good. Is that how you're used to things or are you one for more subtlety?" Sideswipe asked.

"None of them were good at subtle, it helped me know what was coming," Breakdown said with a small brief hitch in his voice before plowing on through the conversation. "We just kind of crashed through life as a team and the others didn't much care what anyone thought. Thundercracker once said that Wildrider wouldn't know subtle if it came up and introduced itself." 

Sideswipe snickered as his optics glittered at his brother. "I know the type. Though I think of everyone here that description best fits old 'Hide."

"Unless it's a subtle threat. Those he knows well," Sunstreaker amended.

"He'd have to as a bodyguard," Breakdown said thoughtfully.

"It's more Chromia's job," Sideswipe said with a chuckle. "She's the more subtle of that pair." 

"She's not that subtle from what I heard," Breakdown said uncertainly.

"Yeah, but compared to him she is," Sideswipe shrugged. "It doesn't take much to be more subtle than Hide."

"I want to finish this sketch," Sunstreaker blurted out in the first awkward effort in their new agreement.

"Okay, should we go back to playing the game?" Breakdown asked willing to test out the new rules allowing Sunstreaker to look at him. He needed to accommodate this otherwise Sunstreaker would just go back to staring at him anytime. 

* * *

Following Prowl silently into Medical was a nerve wracking experience for Breakdown especially knowing the twins were getting lectured and disciplined by Ironhide. It wasn't like they'd planned to encounter the Dinobots out on the blast range. Swoop had spotted them racing from the air and had commented about Breakdown bouncing all over the course which had drawn the rest of the pack. Sunstreaker had warned them about the incoming warriors, but Sludge had taken a swing with his tail during a turn and knocked Breakdown sideways down the trail and into Snarl. The resulting melee bouncing from one Dinobot to another had been a strong reminder of racing with the rest of the Stunticons.

It had been _fun_. So much fun. Right up to the point when Wheeljack had chided the dinobots in person and Prowl had commed the twins to bring him back. Prowl and Ironhide had met them under the Ark's engines and Breakdown nearly stalled to realize it wasn't Ironhide he was to follow.

The orange hallways, never a comfortable thing, seemed to stretch forever and he couldn't shake the feeling that even though the Praxian was looking directly ahead he was still staring at _him_. He wanted to ask if he was in trouble but was too afraid to actually say anything. Prowl had stood up for him against Cliffjumper but that might have been because the mech had been about to cause a fight and break the rules. Finally he managed to whisper, "Am I in trouble, sir?"   
  
"No. Ratchet is going to check you over then you will wait there or with me until either Ironhide or the twins come get you," Prowl said evenly.

He took a change and asked, "Are the twins in trouble? They didn't ask the Dinobots to get involved, and I don't think they could stop them without a fight ... It was kinda fun actually." 

"I doubt they will get more than a dressing down by Ironhide but it depends on what he says. Unless you took significant damage it can't be worse than an extra shift cleaning," Prowl explained even as he took Breakdown's opinion into account.

"I didn't get hurt during it. We don't need to bother Ratchet with this," Breakdown said as he tried to get the twins out of trouble and avoid medical. He didn't want to annoy Ratchet with minor problems, and First Aid still made him uncomfortable with his reactions to Breakdown's loss.

"Until Ratchet is convinced this Breakdown pinball game is safe for you we will humor him," Prowl said firmly.

"You don't mind me playing with the Dinobots?" Breakdown perked up a bit since Prowl didn't seem to be personally objecting to the fun. As they walked through the corridors he couldn't help stealing glances at the walls wondering if the volcano was as potentially dangerous as it seemed. He occasionally heard creaking and odd skittering sounds coming from the vents and walls in the hallways and rooms. Sideswipe swore it was tiny local vermin far too small to do any major damage. Breakdown wasn't convinced given he'd heard stories about how annoying glitch mice and other Cybertronian vermin could be. 

"As long as no one and nothing important is seriously damaged I do not mind at all. They certainly seemed to be having fun and I assess that you did as well," Prowl gave reasoning as well as answer.

Breakdown tried to pay attention to where they were going but the skittering sound was naggingly familiar and it wasn't quite like the sounds he'd heard during the time just before recharge here. He'd been jarred online often enough to recognize it. This was something he was also familiar with although he couldn't quite place it.... With a snarl he lunged for the vent. "Ravage!" 

"What?" Prowl whirled around, his doorwings high, sensors at maximum and acid rifle out. ::Red Alert, Blaster. Ravage at my location.:: he pinged the pair specifically and the base in general to go on alert and lock the vents down. Within a klik Steeljaw arrived hanging onto Jazz and was helped into the vent system to chase the black feline down.

Breakdown glared at the vent in frustration, forgetting that he was unarmed and would probably have been mauled by the symbiot. It would have been worth it. He wanted to rip that felinoid apart so Soundwave could have a taste of what Breakdown had endured. 

"How did you detect him?" Prowl focused on what was important to him now that the hunt was out of his control.

"I've heard all of them sneaking through the Nemesis my entire existence. They spied on us as much as they spied on anyone. I couldn't recharge half the time because I knew they were around spying on me," Breakdown almost hissed before punching the wall in frustration. 

"That is an exceptionally useful skill," Jazz actually purred. "You can tell them from the usual rodents in the walls?"

"Yes, I can," Breakdown didn't hesitate to tell Jazz everything he could recall. He was extremely bitter at the symbiots and every Decepticon with a bond. "Rumble and Frenzy have similar sounding engines but different pedesteps when they're trying to be sneaky. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw have different engine pitches." 

Jazz's purr deepened with resonate approval. "I'm not going to keep you from Ratchet but later I want to have a chat about ways to upgrade our security sensors to take what you know into account."

"I'll talk to you or Red Alert about it. Whoever is interested and available," Breakdown agreed readily. Thinking about Ravage following him around was already making his plating itch. Only the knowledge that Steeljaw was on the hunt kept him from wanting to crawl into his room and hide beside the berth. He could easily detect the difference between the two felinoids in the vent although that might have been because Steeljaw wasn't trying to be sneaky. "I don't need to glitch out worrying about them spying on me from the vents and walls. I did enough of that already." 

"I gecha," Jazz patted his shoulder, his field gentle with understanding. "Go on, doesn't pay to keep Ratchet waiting."

"Medics get cranky when you waste their time. I don't hear anyone else unauthorized around here, sir," Breakdown agreed as he straightened and glanced at Prowl. With a nod the Praxian moved on and they fell into silence for the rest of the short distance. 

"There you are," Ratchet's gruff growl greeted the pair.

"Ravage caused the delay," Prowl calmly defended the timing.

"I heard," Ratchet huffed. "Miracle Red didn't have a meltdown. Up on the table, Breakdown."

Breakdown obediently sat down on the table trying to face so he could watch the room and the door at the same time. The berth seemed to be angled to make that easier, and he wondered if it was the one that SpecOps preferred when they were in here. "I don't think the Dinobots did anything since my force field was already engaged when they joined in the fun. The scuffs on my hand are from punching the wall on the way here." 

Ratchet picked up the scuffed hand and abruptly dropped it with a jerk back at the shock it gave his hands as soon as he touched metal to metal. "Well, I'm guess that was your force field?"

"Yeah, it does weird things at low levels like this," Breakdown explained as he glanced worriedly at Ratchet's hands to make certain there was no damage. "If I'd come straight here from the race track it might have knock you backwards grabbing me like that. The Dinobots gave it quite a punch that took a while to wear down."

"How long before it's safe to touch?" Ratchet asked even as he focused on scanner readings and comparing them to the baselines he had to see how much the field altered those. He gave a small prayer of thanks that it only registered as a charge in the field systems.

"About another five kliks," Breakdown hazarded a guess even as he noted First Aid glancing over at them from across the room. Was he listening or just noticing that things weren't going like normal? "We never really had to keep track since we'd just bounce off one another without issue. One of the reasons no one ever tried to jump us in our quarters or as a group. It doesn't seem to affect our spikes and valves though I don't know why." 

"That probably has to do with you being sparked as a gestalt," Ratchet watched the charge drop to zero before picking up the hand again to check out the damage. "I expect it does. It just didn't interfere with the rest of your unit."

"Hook never liked working on any of us after battles," Breakdown said thoughtfully as he pondered Ratchet's observation. "So no 'facing anyone after combat or sparring until the charge is gone. That'll be disappointing." 

"As a medic I agree. Knowing this crew, whatever it ends up doing someone is going to enjoy. Whether you'd want to 'face that someone is a separate matter," Ratchet said almost absently and let Breakdown's hand go. "The twins rarely mind a little pain with their fun. Ironhide and Jazz are known for it as well. Whatever your kinks end of being I know who's into what and what to know before you get too deep in with someone."

"Ironhide likes pain or likes causing it?" Breakdown asked suddenly wary. Remembering Prowl's presence he elaborated trying to keep the boss from getting in trouble even as he felt out the officers. "He was really careful with me when I asked for a protection deal."

Ratchet's engine grumbled but Prowl nodded.

"He likes it, at least on occasion," Ratchet answered. "It's common enough in warriors, especially the old ones. Warriors as old as Hide have tried pretty much everything."

"Hmm, he probably won't be worse than Dragstrip. I figure he won't nearly be as rough as Motormaster since you're watching him and will have to repair the damage," Breakdown said with a small shrug of feigned confidence. 

"If you are satisfied he is in good repair?" Prowl spoke up before this could degrade into a play by play of Ark kinks and interfacing habits.

"Yes, yes, he's all yours," Ratchet waved them off before looking at Prowl. "My offer stands when you're ready to admit you're missing it."

Prowl's doorwings gave a subtly rude dismissal he knew Ratchet understood before walking out with Breakdown.

"Thank you for your time," Breakdown said, curious but unwilling to ask about the officers' business right now. He wanted stay on good terms with them, and it was probably something Sideswipe would know or be curious to learn about when he mentioned it to the twins later. 

* * *

Despite the good-natured grumbling of Sideswipe and less good-natured grumbling of Sunstreaker Breakdown was enjoying the day's duty to do inventory in one of the large storerooms dug into the mountain next door to the Ark. Despite the first thought he had about how easy it would be to get him into trouble and how chaotic it might be the place was nothing like he expected. It was clean, orderly and everything in its own labeled bin or crate.

He couldn't figure out why this was considered a nuisance duty. Nothing was going to crash on them, and they could see anyone sneaking up on them so he didn't have to focus almost all his attention on searching for spies. It wasn't like they were having to dig through a pile of scrap trying to find anything useful that Swindle or Scavenger hadn't already taken. Yes he could see why it could be considered dull, boring or drudgery but seriously, if this qualified as punishment duties they really had no idea what that could really mean. As scary as Prowl still was the litany of things he did when one or both twins had broken some rule or another barely qualified as punishment. No one was being beaten until nearly deactivated, starved or sent on a suicide mission. Speaking of which, he glanced over at Sideswipe and asked, "Is there anything I should be worried about with the officers' politics?" 

"Nah," Sideswipe shook his head without looking up from the container he was counting. "They can all make existence miserable or short in their own ways if you tick them off bad enough but with Prime this close anything that would get you in that deep would result in a trial before they took it out on you personally."

"He's talking about killing an Autobot or treason level things," Sunstreaker added. "Now if and when Ultra Magnus is here for a while we need to be extra careful. He'll probably love you."

"Actually Prowl and Red are both kinda protective of you. They're good allies to have," Sideswipe added thoughtfully.

"Having Security accept me is important for my continued survival. Jazz seems to have use for me so that is another good thing although SpecOps is dangerous to associate with in its own way," Breakdown agreed even as he pondered why the twins would have to be careful around this particular officer. He knew very little about Ultra Magnus because the mech wasn't currently on Earth so Starscream didn't tend to rant about him. Unless Cybertron came up but then the complaints were mostly about Shockwave. "Why would it be a bad thing if Ultra Magnus likes me? Is he going to try to take me from this team or decide I should be a berth toy? I can do that if it means it'll keep me here on the Ark."

"Hu?" Sideswipe did look up this time. "Sunny said _we_ have to be careful. He's a rule-monger that puts Prowl to shame. He hates the two of us. He'll like you because you obey the rules. Nothing bad about it."

"Oh," Breakdown said relieved even as he chastised himself mentally for having including himself with the twins. Of course he didn't count as part of their team. He was just the subordinate stuck with them by the officers. He followed the rules rigidly because he didn't want to be thrown out and left to be hunted down by the Decepticons. "That sounds frustrating."

"Yeah, it sucks. It's still better than the options. We're treated better here than anywhere else we could go," Sideswipe shrugged.

That reminded Breakdown of his own position. His place here was incredibly tenuous and seemed to be only because the officers felt guilty about his losses. It might also be because he was so young. Prime seemed unhappy that the Stunticons had never had a choice about being Decepticons. Breakdown couldn't see why he was so disturbed by it. It wasn't like the Protectobots had a choice being Autobots. Or maybe they did. The Aerialbots and Dinobots had both briefly gone Decepticon and been accepted when they came back. There was no way Megatron would have accepted the Stunticons becoming Autobots and then going back to the Decepticons. Unless they'd brought Prowl's head back on a spike. Optimus was supposed to only be Megatron's prey although Motormaster had disagreed with that idea. "Being alone after having a team is disturbing. At least you have each other." 

"It's kept us among the functioning so far. It'll be what takes us from it too," Sunstreaker's philosophical comment was a touch out of character to Breakdown but he knew everyone had such moments. Even Motormaster had them and those were some seriously glitch-inducing kliks.

"You survived. You'll have a new team when you want it, this time of mecha who like you and you trust as much as you can," Sideswipe tried to sound encouraging despite the morbid thoughts echoing both ways along the bond.

"Being with mecha who actually seem to like me has been a new experience. You two, Ironhide and some officers..." Breakdown agreed even as he tried to drag himself out of the dark mood. Glancing around at the empty room he hesitated but decided this was probably a good moment to divert the twins' moods as well. Beyond the self-preservation aspect he liked it when they were in a good mood. "Speaking of mecha that get along, what would Prowl be missing that Ratchet would offer?" 

"A sense of humor?" Sunstreaker snorted.

"Like Ratchet has one to offer," Sideswipe gladly took the opening. "Was was the subject before that?"

"I told them that I had a protection deal with Ironhide and that he wasn't rough at all with me," Breakdown replied wanting to see how the twins would respond to the idea. Ironhide made it sound like it had once been a common thing in the Autobots. 

"Prowl doesn't need protection and I can't imagine he'd offer that," Sideswipe scowled and cut Breakdown's words off as he tried to picture the rule-abiding SIC playing favorites in exchange for an overload. Paying for it, sure. But using his position to pay for it? That just did not compute.

"He needs a good 'face though," Sunstreaker snorted. "Mech probably hasn't gotten any since Praxus."

"Ratchet was commenting about pain kinks and warriors. He told me he could steer me towards or away from mecha based on my kink preferences." Breakdown added when they quieted.

"Yeah, Ratchet would know it. Only mech who might know as much about social life around here is Smokescreen," Sideswipe agreed and thought a bit more. "He's probably trying to get Prowl laid, reminding him that somebody here matches his top kink."

"Why would Prowl avoid interfacing with subordinates?" Breakdown gave Sideswipe a confused look. He'd never seen an officer not just take what they wanted from a subordinate unless a more powerful officer or group of mecha had claimed the subordinate. "I thought the only mech that outranked him was Prime?" 

"Or Ratchet, depending on the subject," Sideswipe nodded. "Jazz can if he's having a good day. As for why ... I think it's cause of fraternization rules. It's mostly for officers but the higher ranked mecha can get into trouble for approaching a lower ranked one, or something like that," he shrugged. "Or maybe he just doesn't want to get involved with someone he knows he'll eventually order the death of to win a battle."

"Sounds lonely," Breakdown said even as he realized that refusing to interface with subordinates was also a good way to keep from being accused of favoritism as well as keeping himself safe from jealous suitors trying to manipulate their positions. Better to be alone than have to deal with those kinds of threats. He wasn't sure he could manage being alone for as long as Prowl probably had been but he'd never have the kind of rank Prowl had either.

"How he manages I'll never understand but some mecha are wired differently," Sideswipe could only shrug. "Something's broken in all the Praxian survivors whether they show it or not. Only a third of the ones who survived the attack survived the next vorn and it wasn't medical issues for most. They just stopped. Prowl probably just handles lonely."

"Or he's got a mission to finish," Sunstreaker's tone was dark. "You know he won't quit until he's done what he promised to."

"Okay, or that," Sideswipe's field shivered with cold. "Whatever it is Prowl is doing what he needs to do see tomorrow."

Breakdown finished his inventory of the bin and moved over to the next one on his list. As he started on it, he said, "If he needs help against the Decepticons I'll give it if I can. They took everything from me and threw me aside when I wasn't of use anymore. There's no one there I'd regret offlining."

"Good to hear that," Sideswipe smiled with a flash of agreement. "No matter what the officers intend you'll see the battlefield eventually. Even Perceptor fights when Cons come here."

"I'll be ready," Breakdown growled before focusing again on his work. He wouldn't continue to make a good impression on Prowl if he failed at his assigned duties. Even if they were as boring as inventory. If he wanted revenge on the battlefield he knew what he had to do. First was to get Ironhide willing to speak of his fighting skill to Prowl. He was doing well there even if he had a ways to go. Then he had to convince Prowl to put him on the field. Getting Jazz on his side in this with the intel and willingness he already had would help too. It might take a year or two but he could manage that as long as his unit remained stable.

* * *

Their armor pinged as it cooled Chromia relaxed on top of Ironhide's broad frame and hummed. "So I hear you have a protection deal again."

"Yeah. That newspark defector, Breakdown. Not even a metacycle old and all of it as a Con and has no idea he doesn't need protection here. It makes him feel better though and I think it's giving him a bit of confidence and a taste of what 'facing can be," Ironhide rumbled. "For all his issues he's got a good spark in there."

"Sounds like he's had a rough existence. He's the one that lost his gestalt, right? I'm amazed he's still functioning," Chromia said thoughtfully, thinking about what Jazz had hinted about the circumstances of Breakdown's defection. "Is he good looking as well as good sparked?"

"He's no Mirage but yeah, he's good looking for a racing frame," Ironhide chuckled. "I'm hoping he hooks up with the twins. I think'll be good for all of them. He's passive enough not to trigger either of them and I think he'll feel a lot safer as part of that pair. Want me to give him a ping? He's rather amazing in the berth but you'll have to ask. This one has to give a clear agreement or refusal to you joining in."

"Got it. Still working on imprinting modern rules in him," she purred. "Yes, ping him. Whether I get to play or just watch him warm you up again it'll be good."

::Breakdown,:: Ironhide commed. He'd interfaced with the racer a few times now but adding him to the mix with Chromia was definitely enticing.

::Yes, sir. Is there something I can do for you?:: the racer answered immediately as if he'd been waiting to be commed by the warrior. 

::Indulging my spike, and Chromia's if you like hers.:: Ironhide replied.

There was a pause while Breakdown tried to work out his feelings on this suggestion. After only a brief moment, the racer said, ::You're quarters or elsewhere, sir?:: 

::My quarters,:: Ironhide's tone dropped to a near-purr.

Breakdown rose from his seat putting aside the datapad he'd been reviewing. He paused a moment thinking about his situation before comming Red Alert. Better not to cause trouble and keep on the Security Officer's good side. ::Ironhide has requested my presence in his quarters.:: 

::Go ahead. I'll watch that you get there without trouble,:: the security director responded.

With the security that at least the majority of the optics and cameras watching him were going to be protective rather than troublesome he headed to the door, vented briefly, and headed down the corridor to Ironhide's quarters. At least it wasn't too far away, and any of the officers who happened to leave their quarters would probably assume that's where he was going. They'd challenge him if necessary, but this was the third time he'd made this trip so it was getting weirdly familiar. 

It was also weird to think of this protection deal as something enjoyable. He'd finally begun to understand it was a matter of pride for the old warrior to make sure his berthmates enjoyed it, even the ones who were doing their duty. It was a lot better than most protectors wanted but it was still seriously weird. He stopped briefly at Ironhide's door.

Inside was a strange mecha he'd only seen when the group arrived on Skyfire from Cybertron. To his knowledge he'd never seen a femme-type in person of any class; any in the Decepticons were not on the Nemesis or didn't advertise their status. Chromia was supposed to be as fearsome as Ironhide, and he well believed the tales. It would take someone with serious skills to survive against Shockwave and the Cybertronian Seekers for so long. The idea of interfacing with her was a bit terrifying, but he wasn't certain if it was worse than the idea of being fragged by Motormaster and Wildrider at the same time. Hopefully she wasn't who Ironhide went to when he wanted pain instead of affection. 

"I'm no more a threat to you than Hide," the powder blue femme said and shifted to show off her frame in a way even Breakdown recognized as enticing. He'd probably have found it more alluring if he wasn't wary of the warrior it contained. "He has told me you're an amazing 'face and I'd enjoy having you between us if you're game."

That was a tricky request for him. On one hand, it meant that he'd be pressed between two protectors in case anyone attacked. On the other hand, it meant he'd have nowhere to run if they turned violent on him. On the third hand, if they turned violent he could comm Red Alert if need be. The Security Officer knew where he was and had proven reliable in the past. Still playing submissive but trying to be the assertive mech Ironhide said that the Autobots wanted him to be, he asked, "Could I touch your frame to get used to you first?" 

"I'd enjoy that," she smiled warmly, or at least Breakdown thought it was warmly and she laid down on the berth while Ironhide settled a bit out of the way at the foot of the berth.

Ironhide's look was of definite approval. Breakdown knew the red warrior well enough to be sure of that. If Ironhide approved it was likely a good thing. And it meant the one he trusted more was clearly on watch.

Nervous but determined to try to please his team leader, he approached the side of the berth and knelt at the side by her pedes. He reached out and ran his hand just above her plating feeling her field while building up his nerve to touch her. Sensing no displeasure and only anticipation he brought his hand down and began tracing the edges of her armor before lowering his head and following the hand with his mouth and glossa. It was a very submissive move as far as most would be concerned, but it meant that he could take his time and build courage and confidence without annoying her too badly. 

As he moved he teeked the strength of her field, the age that echoed in it. She wasn't nearly as old as Ironhide but she was older than any Decepticon he'd met. She teeked happy too, strange as it was. He wasn't doing anything very well. Yet Ironhide was also pleased and something else positive too. He continued with his current actions moving slowly up Chromia's form and getting a good feel for her field while still touching Ironhide's field for the reassurance and familiarity. Reaching her hips he avoided her interface array and continued up her hips to her sides and chestplate. 

The excitement against his field built as she pressed into his touches with quiet sounds of desire. He could teek it, even feel it in her frame, how much she wanted to touch him and was holding herself in tight check.

The more time he spent with Ironhide the more power he realized this role actually had here with the Autobots. He decided how and when Ironhide or Chromia touched him. He decided how to give them pleasure. Ratchet's warnings last time he'd talked to the medic about kinks were in his processor. The medic said it was possible given his loses that his spark might try to bond to anyone it touched. Tilting up to look at Chromia, he said, "You can touch my shoulders and arms if you like, but I will not do a hardlink or sparkplay. Do you want me to suck your spike now?" 

Her hands went to his shoulders to flirt with his collar fairing before she answered with a rumbling _yes_ and a matching flare of excitement in her field and Ironhide's.

Breakdown moved back down her frame planting kisses and trailing his glossa along until his face reached her array. His glossa traced the edges of her panel while his fingers carefully danced across the wiring in her hips and was rewarded by the panels sliding open almost immediately. He was ready to pull them away in an instant if she expressed any displeasure at the contact. He didn't think so given the excitement and her reactions but he was always prepared. Stealing a small glance over at Ironhide to watch his reaction he asked, "Do you want me to concentrate on your spike right now or finger your valve at the same time?" 

Ironhide's engine revved hotly and her spike was already halfway pressurized when she shivered at the question and spread her legs a bit more. "Both."

"Always happy to oblige," he said with a pleased grin before sliding her spike straight down his throat as he planted one hand to hold her hips still. He felt the tension in her frame, the desire to thrust, but also that she wasn't going to. Teasing time wasn't over just yet although it would be interesting to see how long she lasted compared to Ironhide. The other hand moved to her slick valve and began to trace the edge with a single finger, stopping to tease any node he happened to encounter along the way and spreading the abundant lubricant. Fidgeting his hand as he balanced he started slowly started adding another finger every second pass around her valve, gradually increasing the depth he was exploring. All the while his glossa and lips caressed her spike, she moaned and Ironhide's field flared brightly with arousal at watching his mate be pleasured. 

Chromia's charge began to dance under her plating. A bright blue tingle against Breakdown's plating. Her valve calipers cycled and tried to grip his fingers. Her hips began to rock involuntarily. Not enough to bother him but he felt it, felt the strength under him and understood that despite having a frame his size she was as reinforced and strong as any warrior.

That meant she was dangerous and a potential threat to any foe. He didn't think she was a threat to him anymore what with his protection deal with Ironhide and the fact he was proving he was willing to pleasure her. Tightening his throat around her spike he slid all of his fingers into her valve during one of the cycles to give her something to clamp down on all the while he pulsed his fingers along one of her nodes as his thumb quickly rubbed against the anterior node on her valve.

"Almost there," Ironhide rumbled a warning to him when Chromia gasped out a shuttering moan.

Breakdown smiled and purred around her spike as his engine rumbled in anticipation. He was used to swallowing transfluid from Motormaster and he knew she wouldn't produce nearly enough to be an issue for him. As a tease for Ironhide he triggered his own valve cover to open allowing Ironhide to see how much he was enjoying pleasuring the warrior's mate. It earned him a rumble of appreciation and approval as well as a flare in Ironhide's field that promised of pleasure to come as a reward.

With a cry Chromia's frame crackled in a bright lightning show as it bowed. Stripped of control her hands pressed Breakdown's helm down against lifting hips and her valve locked against his fingers and vibrated in an effort to draw transfluid out to heighten the overload a little more.

"You put on an amazing show," Ironhide's engine was running hot as he reached for Breakdown's hips to stroke them.

"I am to please," Breakdown replied in a flirting tone although he genuinely meant what he said. Pleasing Ironhide and now Chromia meant he stayed safe and protected. He wasn't intending to manipulate them. That never went well when warriors found out about it. But he was willing to bend things to better his own status with the Autobots. As long as he didn't have to interface with Jazz. It was bad enough having Chromia here who was a warrior and mate to his leader. A SpecOps like Jazz getting into his systems was asking for trouble. If Jazz ever suggested it that would be the true test of the rules he'd been given.

"Oh no, lover. I want his valve next, and drive him into you," Chromia purred. It sent a jolt of excitement through Ironhide's field.

"You game?" Ironhide focused on the mech who'd be in the middle.

Breakdown thought seriously for a moment although he'd already been running the idea through his processor while pleasuring Chromia. He missed being between his gestalt mates. Spiking Ironhide still felt like a forbidden thrill and probably would for a long time. "I'm willing to try. If it bothers me..." he trailed off slowly.

"We'll stop," Ironhide promised firmly. Traumatizing Breakdown with flashback memories wouldn't be good for anyone and would definitely get him on Ratchet's bad side.

"Absolutely, we will stop," Chromia added as the one who'd have far more physical control in this round.

Breakdown vented and debated Ironhide's word. He hadn't broken it so far and had a reputation even among the Decepticons as being blunt and honest. He didn't know Chromia's reputation nearly as well but he was willing to trust Ironhide enough in this moment to accept her word as well. "I'm game." 

"Good," Chromia shivered in anticipation and slid forward so Ironhide could lay down in her place and she crawled behind Breakdown. "You really are a good looking mech," she purred as she leaned over him. Her hands were on his hips but she wasn't using him for support. It was a simple but intimate display of strength that definitely revved up Ironhide as he spread his legs and offered an open, slick valve to Breakdown.

"Do you want to watch me play or just go straight to the main event?" Breakdown asked Chromia. He was game either way. Licking and suckling Ironhide's valve would be something of a forbidden pleasure, but he did want to slide his spike into the waiting valve. He was fairly certain there weren't any nasty spines or blades waiting to punish an intruder inside it. 

"Main event," she kissed his scruff. "I want to watch you sink into him, then I'll sink into you."

"As you desire," he replied cheerfully and finally allowed his spike cover to snap open. He was too well trained to bare it without prompting although Ironhide had mentioned trying to make him extend simply from pleasure at one point. He'd been a bit aroused at the time so Breakdown wasn't certain if it was 'facing bragging or a genuine desire yet. Once his spike extended he lined up and slid his spike into Ironhide trying to make sure Chromia had a good view of the process. It was hard not to thrust given how intoxicating it was to actually be spiking his leader. 

He felt her pressing into him, the surge of pleasure in her field as she hilted herself and froze for just a moment before withdrawing. He made himself withdraw from Ironhide the same distance and as close to the same pace as he could manage. She'd wanted to use him to frag her mate, and he was going to do the best he could to comply with her wishes. It helped that she seemed to know how to properly fill a valve even if it didn't compare to when Wildrider and Dead End liked to team up in him. 

"Oh yes, you've done this before," Chromia's approval was bright in her voice and field as she thrust forward. She kept the speed reasonable as they were all still getting a feel for it but soon she was thriving Breakdown forward and grinding him against her mate with each cycle.

It was a bit like a few times with Wildrider and Dead End but the effect on him made it different enough not to trigger any bad memories. He couldn't feel the faint feedback through his spark, only feeling their emotions through his field. It was enough to let him relax a tiny bit and enjoy the ride as Chromia drove them all to a faster, hotter pace. It might not be his gestalt but these two made him feel safe, feel good, even wanted. They were strong, high ranked and liked what he did to pleasure them. He moaned as the dual stimulation of spike and valve build his charge faster than he was used to.

If he could keep them happy maybe they would keep giving him pleasure like this? Just protection would have been a great deal, but this was a dangling treat he could barely resist. Relatively safe and happy was more than he'd ever really expected or hoped for. He couldn't hold out any longer against the pleasure and treacherous bit of hope being encouraged by them. He cascaded into an overload, his valve gripping onto Chromia so she could continue to use him to pleasure Ironhide. 

"Yes!" Ironhide bellowed under them, tipped over the edge by finally having Breakdown overload first.

Above the mechs Chromia lasted a fraction longer before she let herself go and the charge washed away everything but pleasure.

"It took two of you," Breakdown muttered a bit cheekily to Ironhide as he enjoyed the pleasure rippling through his field from both of them overloading around him. Here it was safe protected by two sated and dangerous warriors. He might even be able to recharge later if they let him but that was probably too much to ask. 

"Do you have anywhere to be before first shift?" Chromia asked lazily as she withdrew and slid to her side next to them.

"Nope," Breakdown said as he suppressed a grumble at losing the physical connection to Chromia. It wasn't enough to get him to pull out of Ironhide or move from his spot on top of the larger warrior though. "The twins are on monitoring duty with Inferno so I'm supposed to be studying basic chemistry before my recharge cycle." 

She reached up to stroke his back and glanced between the mechs.

~It's busywork to bring his education up to par. He can stay.~ Ironhide supplied.

"If you'd like to stay I like to snuggle," she purred.

Breakdown tried not to perk up too much at the idea of the connection to the warriors. He warred internally over the idea of being surrounded by former enemies but the idea of actually building a new team was too tempting. No one, especially not the symbiots, were going to try to attack him here nestled between these two. "If you want to snuggle I'm not adverse to it now. I'll leave myself a warning for reboot so I don't freak as much as I might otherwise." 

"You do what you need to," she smiled warmly. "We've all left that warning for ourselves."

"I don't know if I'll be able to manage to stay all shift," Breakdown said seriously before snuggling closer to Ironhide. He knew the warrior was the only thing keeping his glitch at bay right now. 

"That's fine," she promised before shifting to press against her mate with her arm over Breakdown.


	3. Chapter 3

Breakdown edged into the twins' room, hesitant even after getting an invite from Sideswipe. Sunstreaker was off doing something by himself for the moment, and Breakdown didn't have an estimate on his return. Going in felt crazy, but he was far too tempted by Sideswipe's offer of different treats and fuels to try. He'd loved the frontliner's creations once he'd worked up the nerve to try a few. Not one of them had poisoned him, not even the ones he couldn't like enough to taste past the first bite. He'd eaten them but he was glad he knew how not to taste.

He paused in the doorway so it remained open while he took measure of the room. It was full of stuff compared to his. Everything was neat despite how full it was. A single berth sized for two confirmed what he'd heard and guessed. There was more storage and the room was noticeably larger than his too. Even so it seemed small when he thought about what he had and translated it to two mecha that far outranked him.

"Hay, come in," Sideswipe grinned at him and waved him to a small table set up in the back part of the room. Three small cubes of energon of varying colors were there plus a handful of goodies.

"Thanks for the invite," Breakdown edged through the door half-expecting it to slam shut behind him even though he'd been welcomed here. He mentally chastised himself for his suspicions. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker hadn't done anything to warrant such thoughts. Now, if Cliffjumper had made the offer he would have immediately contacted Ratchet and Prowl because the mech would have been glitching or trying to offline him. Making his way over to the table he looked around quickly for anything he might accidentally damage and felt a touch of relief when it was clear except for the taste test items.

Sideswipe flopped down in clear demonstration that the chairs were sturdy. "Start with the treats or the high grade? I'd like to know what you taste in each one. Just describe it. There isn't a wrong answer."

"Let's start with the treats so I can give you clearer answers," Breakdown said, relieved to have a choice in the matter. Keeping a clear processor would be important both in describing things properly to Sideswipe and making certain he didn't do something foolish or break something that would get him in trouble. "What should I start with?"

"These should be the same as the last batch of arsenic-rust sticks," Sideswipe handed him one.

Breakdown studied the treat for a klik before taking a small taste. If anyone but his new team asked he'd say he was taste-testing it like he'd seen Mirage do the one time in the rec room. Honestly he was still partially convinced that he might get accidentally poisoned by something his systems couldn't handle. When the flavor matched the last one he'd tried it eased the worry a bit and he could even appreciate how Sideswipe was putting an effort into not staring at him despite how badly he wanted to know what Breakdown thought.

"Tastes pretty good," Breakdown said giving an honest opinion before remembering he was supposed to give more information. Recalling Mirage's statements, he tried his own version. "The sour notes enhance the underlying sweet tone that remains in your mouth."

Sideswipe smiled brightly and his field bloomed with pleasure. He really did enjoy making others happy. "How close is it to the last one you tried?"

"There's something else in it," Breakdown struggled a bit with the taste before accessing his new chemistry files. Matching what he knew it as to the scientific name took a moment, but he was pleased he'd gotten that far. "I think it's some traces of sodium chloride? We kept getting salt water in our systems every time we left the Nemesis." 

"Not intentionally, but it wouldn't be the first time salt got into the mix. It's like the dust and pollen and bugs. It gets into _everything_ on this planet," Sideswipe huffed and noted that Breakdown had some seriously advanced sensors. "It is better, worse or just different than the last one?"

"The salt gives it a slightly different taste is all. It's not bad, just different," Breakdown said after analyzing it further. "There's not enough to cause any damage to someone's systems so it isn't dangerous. Believe me, I know how much salt water it takes to damage a mech. The Constructicons used to complain about it all the time." 

"Here you'll learn the evils of sand. I'm sure you'll hear similar complaints from Ratchet about it." Sideswipe chuckled and picked up the next treat. "Jelled solar standard grade with a touch of carbon and aluminum, coated in silicon."

"Wet sand is obnoxious, and I bet Sunstreaker hates it too," Breakdown agreed having had to dig it out of his pedes far too many times. He kept his face as neutral as he could before swallowing the remainder of the jell. "There's enough sweetness to make it tolerable in a mix of treats, but if it was any more bitter I'd probably just straight up swallow it. Maybe try adding some nickel to it would help? That had a slight tang to it that might work well." 

Sideswipe looked surprised but nodded. "You really hate bitter. I'll keep that in my processor. You won't like this one either," he pulled one of the cubes. "How about this one?" he offered a bite sized slightly flattened sphere. "It's core is magma energon, coated in copper and then dusted in a mixture of cuprous oxide and cupric oxide."

"Thanks for accommodating my tastes," Breakdown felt a bit flattered that Sideswipe was willing to listen to his likes and sacrifice getting an opinion. Even if it was an opinion he could already figure out. Tasting this one took even more time because he wanted to thank Sideswipe for everything. "This one is really complex with the different yet similar layers of flavor. I can taste the difference between them. Are there treats that have the three in different layers with something in between so most others can follow it? I bet Jazz can taste everything involved with this one." 

"All this stuff is meant to be enjoyed. No point is having somebot taste-test things I know they won't like. Everything I make is meant for those who like that flavor profile," Sideswipe chatted. "I don't have any on hand but the same process that makes that can make what you're asking for. And yes, Jazz can taste every single hint of something. He's great to go to when I'm not sure what's gone wrong with a batch or ingredient. You probably will be too, if you're willing to risk it. Hopefully I won't need any help like that for vorns if ever but during the worst times you used what you could get, past its pull date or not. Hound and Ramhorn are really good too. Or the cats but they don't smell nearly as well as that basher."

"Whether or not I can risk it will probably depend on my glitch although it probably won't be as bad if I know it is coming," Breakdown admitted. "I've lived almost my entire existence on what I now know is some really foul stuff. Getting treats right sounds like a better use of my sensors. Motormaster used to have me test everyone's energon for poisons when he ticked someone off." 

"Of course. Despite the battlefield tactics I'm not fond of forcing anyone," Sideswipe promised. "We've been on the receiving end of that abuse. That's one thing I'm not paying forward when I can help it. If you aren't up for it that orn I have other options. The Cons really don't have good energon? It seems like they steal enough they should have decent fuel."

"They send almost everything to Cybertron," Breakdown said having already passed that information along to Jazz a while back. He figured that Jazz had already known that given how long it had been going on over there but maybe it hadn't been passed on to the rank and file. "I guess that's why Starscream used to shoot down Dirge's complaints about energon. He was supplying the Seekers on Cybertron...and Shockwave." 

"I bet he only cared about the Seekers," Sideswipe hummed. "Anyway, the cubes are high grade. I'm working on a new spicy blend. The yellow-ish one is solar based and the deep red is magma based. Magma starts spicy so it should be the hotter of the two," he explained as he picked up the lighter cube and took a sip before handing it to Breakdown.

Grateful for the display to ease any of his concerns without drawing attention to them, Breakdown accepted the fuel and took a careful drink noting the potency of it. This wasn't as strong as some of the brews Mixmaster made although it seemed a lot purer and of better quality than anything the Constructicon shared outside his gestalt. He also trusted Sideswipe's brews a lot more than he did anything Mixmaster created. "I think there's something else in this besides solar. Did you mix something into it while it was brewing?" 

"That's the spice," Sideswipe nodded. "One percent cupric oxide and two percent red coral. It's my first serious try with the coral. I've put it in treats but never high grade." 

Breakdown took another sip and studied the mix now that he realized what he was tasting. "I think Mixmaster experimented with red coral once or twice but I didn't get much more than a taste of it. I think I didn't recognize it because of the purity of the solar and low concentration. I wouldn't use too much of it with pyrite; that batch made Astrotrain actually throw the cube at him cursing him out over the flavor. The rest Constructicons got offended and started a brawl with him and Blitzwing." 

"That's actually kinda an even fight," Sideswipe chuckled and nodded. "I haven't tried that mix and now I won't. How spicy would you rate that mix?"

"Spicier than I would normally drink but tolerable for a special occasion. It reminds me a bit of some of those milder Rust Sea treats you made for Trailbreaker when he traded for Sunstreaker's patrol shift before that storm," Breakdown shuttered remembering the hailstones falling down and imagining them hitting Sunstreaker's finish. 

"Good to know," Sideswipe nodded and shuddered himself. "That was well worth it. Honestly Trailbreaker went easy on me for that trade. He didn't want to be around a storm-dented Sunstreaker either. The next one should be hotter but also sweeter."

Breakdown accepted the cube after Sideswipe took a drink and tried it as well, mindful for the warning about the heat. He was glad for it and the small amount he'd tried because it was much more intense. After swallowing it, he said, "Is that basalt and iron oxide? Last time you said that added heat to treats."

"Basalt is a common impurity in magma and really makes it hotter," Sideswipe agreed. "How's the balance between sweet and heat for you?"

"Intense but drinkable," Breakdown said finally. "I'd definitely swap between it and something else, but I know a few of the Autobots will like it. It might work well with some super sweet Polyhexian treats as a counterbalance." 

"Oh, now that's a good idea," Sideswipe perked up and offered a third small cube after taking a sip. "Some of your regular blend to clear out your mouth."

"Thank you," Breakdown said gratefully and took the small cube, drinking deeply to get the heat out of his mouth. It was familiar and comforting, enough so he didn't even consciously note that he wasn't a bit suspicious of the cube's contents. 

* * *

Breakdown had mixed feelings about today. On one side he was excited that he had earned enough trust to be given important training. Repairing medical and other equipment was a skill of great importance and came with practical status. On the other he was worried what mecha he might be putting out of such training and spending so much time around First Aid. The Protectobots were all still acting a little strange around him, and his latest paranoia attack hadn't helped any with the concern. It wasn't completely unexpected though given the circumstances. He hadn't been cleared to know that Mirage was off the base, and he'd had a bit of a freak out trying to figure out where the spy was hiding to watch him. Ratchet hadn't even yelled much given it was such an obvious issue in retrospect.

Entering Medical was always a bit of an adventure and brought hesitation since he still expected to get the kind of berating that Hook would have given. Instead he got a cheerful wave from Swoop who was over at a bench working on something that looked like a wing. His first thought to was look around to see who was waiting for it. No flier would leave when a wing was being repaired. Except the medbay was empty except for Swoop and Ratchet.

"How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked first.

"Better than I did two days ago," Breakdown admitted. "Thank you for putting me on berth rest even though I didn't appreciate it then. Taking the time to settle my processor helped a lot. Smokescreen says I'm getting my glitch back under control." 

"Good," Ratchet nodded. "It's the work of an entire functioning but I know it's possible to have a good existence even with a severe glitch. We've got several in this unit. Now, do you have any experience doing repairs or maintenance to anything?"

"Only the basics for ourselves," Breakdown admitted. "We didn't dare go to the Constructicons for anything that wasn't serious, and our fields made it weird for others to work on us. I did have to fix some of the things we broke while roughhousing." 

"Then you should know one end of a wrench from the other," he brandished his favorite example, "and screwdrivers. Any welding?"

"Dead End's plating on his back once. It stayed together until Superion kicked him into a mountain. Hook agreed to fix him after that because he split the whole thing into pieces," Breakdown said with almost a fondness in his voice. "Otherwise I used to weld some chairs and things together. Most of our furniture was in pieces at any given time." 

"Then you've got a solid head start on some I've trained," Ratchet nodded and lead him to a clear counter before laying out a dozen tools. "We'll start with the basics anyway. Make sure there's no gaps in what you know."

"Three different wrenches, two screwdrivers, a welder, a laser cutter, two hammers, a grinder, wire cutters, and a soldering iron," Breakdown named off each type of tool in order. "I've used some of these but I don't think the laser cutter was used for what it was supposed to be for because we broke it in the process. Scavenger had to get another one from some humans and it never worked right for Hook again. He was ticked but it was his fault for telling us to fix ourselves." 

"Yes it was," Ratchet huffed. "Not as if he's a real medic but no real medic would ever say that. First lesson: how to fix the basic tool set. Wire cutters," he held his hand out.

Breakdown handed them over, settled in and obediently followed Ratchet's instructions. Learning how to do repairs would be a good way to increase his value to the Autobots overall and also give him a chance to increase his value to his team. Of course Cliffjumper wasn't going to like the idea. Breakdown got a bit of malicious glee in thinking about the minibot's reaction to his new position. As long as he kept his own temper in check there'd be nothing the minibot could do without getting in trouble with Red Alert and Prowl.

Swoop was obviously focused on his own repair work, but he did occasionally look over to watch Ratchet teaching Breakdown. It was a bit disturbing having the Dinobot watching him, but he reminded himself that they weren't actually that bad. It was a bit like dealing with Bruticus. Just get out of the way and point them toward the most things to damage and you would probably be okay. Unless what they wanted was a game of pinball. That was a lot of fun.

Ratchet stiffened suddenly, then began to curse fluently in more languages than Breakdown thought could exist. 

"Swoop. Work on him with tool repair. Just these dozen," Ratchet snapped as he stood and transformed to speed out the medbay doors with sirens blaring.

"You Breakdown learn quick," Swoop said as he came over. He completely towered over the racer until he sat down. "You Breakdown really like playing with us Dinobots?"

"Yeah, you're a bit more rough and tumble than most of the Autobots. I miss crashing around with the rest of my gestalt," Breakdown replied as he followed Swoop's instructions. "Pinball is a lot of fun especially since the others have figured out to hit me at angles instead of straight on. You do a great job as a spotter for them." 

"Thank you," Swoop sat a bit straighter and preened at the complement. "You Breakdown one of the few them Autobots who play with us Dinobots. Us Dinobots too dangerous for most to play with. You Breakdown always welcome among us Dinobots. For play or protection. Him Grimlock said so."

"That's...greatly appreciated," Breakdown almost stuttered as his processor shifted immediately to how valuable this connection really was to him. Despite not being the most social of the Autobots, they were deadly warriors that many Decepticons feared. Their willingness to accept a former Decepticon like him was amazing. "Tell him thank you for me. We'll need to arrange more time for pinball. Sideswipe loves it although Sunstreaker won't play due to his finish. Maybe we can get some others to play with all of us some time. Defensor or Superion wouldn't break playing with you."

"Oooo, you Breakdown have great ideas!" Swoop cheered and his wings waved in excitement. "Us Dinobots ask them gestalts. You Breakdown good mech."

"Thanks," Breakdown said not quite believing that Swoop thought he was good. He was a former Decepticon that had caused all kinds of havoc and still didn't understand some of the Autobot's codes and rules although he was willing to follow them to remain safe. On the other hand, Swoop was a Dinobot who was probably in the same lane of thinking on a lot of this. Lowering his voice a bit, he asked, "What's up with the wing you were working on?"

"Me Swoop ripped it off him Ramjet during a dive. Him Ratchet say to use it as a training tool," Swoop said proudly. "Them Aerialbots let me Swoop work on them when they see me Swoop doing training right." 

"Ramjet's a jerk. Glad you got his wing," Breakdown said in the momentary silence. "Did you choose to train as a medic?"

Swoop gave Breakdown a knowing look. The Dinobot was a lot smarter than most Autobots gave him credit for being. "Me Swoop smallest Dinobot and not want to feel useless. Other Dinobots not so good at fixing things. Me Swoop now useful to him Ratchet." 

"Learning to repair makes me more useful. Being useful is always a good thing. I'm surprised they trust me with this though. It's important work," Breakdown agreed. The Dinobots weren't in Perceptor's league but they were more cunning and street smart than most Decepticons realized. He wondered if the speech pattern was an intentional effort to seem less intelligent and be underestimated. 

"You Breakdown do important checkable work," Swoop said with a shake of his head showing the intelligence Breakdown was now even more convinced the Dinobots hid from the world behind their weird speech patterns. Kind of like how Soundwave made himself inscrutable with his own weird way of talking. Except Sludge. He really wasn't very bright. Unless he was a genius at faking stupidity. "Him Hoist checks all work before installing it." 

Breakdown nodded and felt a bit of relief at that. Any system that had his work checked would lessen the ability of accusers to blame anything on him.

"Did you hear what pulled Ratchet away?"

"Him Hound caught in landslide. Him Trailbreaker dug him Hound out. Them like to drive and make messes," Swoop shook his head in mock despair before throwing a slightly prissy sound into his voice. "Him Hound and him Trailbreaker disgraces for dragging in mud. Just ask him Tracks."

"Or don't ask and just listen," Breakdown agreed with a smile. He wasn't that keen on off-roading himself but he understood the joy in doing something others didn't quite understand. He'd heard Tracks, Sunstreaker and Mirage go off a time or two over the state of the washracks when those two got done in there. They sure didn't complain as much when their nastier shifts got taken by the pair. 

"Him Hound always friendly. Good mech. You Breakdown met him Wheeljack yet?" Swoop asked as the lessons continued almost secondary to their talking.

"Yeah, he's a lot less scary acting than Mixmaster although I don't want to get near his lab while he's working," Breakdown shivered a bit. "There's a lot of damage around those doors." 

Swoop snickered. "Him Wheeljack often blow things up. You Breakdown might enjoy working with him Wheeljack. You Breakdown have shield against booms."

"I don't know how well it would work against unexpected explosions without some prep," Breakdown thought about every time he encountered a Wheeljack special. "Once I know enough science to be useful maybe they'll have me clean up there." 

Swoop considered him and decided to just nod acceptance of the statement. They worked in companionable silence for a bit broken only by instructions and suggestions being given until First Aid entered the room and looked around. "You First Aid! Me Swoop and him Breakdown here!" Swoop called out to get the Protectobot's attention. 

"Oh, hi, Swoop, Breakdown. Is Ratchet still out?" First Aid looked around.

"Him Hound banged up," Swoop explained.

"Yeah, Blades spotted them on the way back. He said it looked like Hound got kicked by Bruticus," First Aid said glancing briefly over at Breakdown but thankfully not staring. After a pause, he added, "He also saw the three of you racing the other day, Breakdown."

"He did? Was he looking for us ... we had authorization to be out there." Breakdown said hurriedly. 

"No, he was just out and heard you having fun so he wanted to see what was going on," First Aid replied as he started running a diagnostic on a machine near the pair. "He thought it looked like something that Streetwise and Groove might enjoy but Hot Spot didn't want to intrude." 

"That's up to the twins. If they don't mind I don't," Breakdown offered.

"Me Swoop bring up pinball to him Grimlock. You First Aid bring up to him Hot Spot?" Swoop said with a sly smile.

"I've heard Ratchet rant about pinball. I'll have to mention it to Hot Spot as something to keep Streetwise busy," First Aid said with a small chuckle.

Breakdown made a small note that medics on teams seemed to be the manipulators. Maybe he could get some ideas watching these two handle their teams? It wouldn't hurt since it sounded a bit like how he used to have to handle Wildrider and Dragstrip. 

"Speaking of pinball, does it ever hurt?" First Aid asked.

"The first few hits as my field builds power are the most likely to cause damage as well as any sudden stops later on. Glancing blows that knock me at angles don't really do much later since I'm pretty good at drifting. That's why Motormaster would get so messed up when he'd crash head-on into Optimus Prime," Breakdown tried once again to explain what was to him second nature. "Pinball's fun because it throws in new variables. I guess I also have a high pain tolerance because we were always ramming things." 

First Aid hummed. "How much of an impact does it take to start building the charge? It doesn't seem like every-orn activities do so."

"Usually something fairly significant like a hard sideswipe during a drive or a punch with some intent to harm behind it. I was already hyped from pinball when I spotted Ravage so the punch to the wall kicked the field cycle back in gear instead of continuing to disperse. I hate those symbiots," Breakdown growled although he kept his hands steady while he worked. "Always watching and judging. They knew what I was going to feel and still went along with offlining us." 

First Aid shivered. "That is something I will never understand. It's pure evil." He sighed. "I say that about a lot of what happens in war. No one wants those symbiots on base either."

"I've been teaching Jazz and Steeljaw everything I know about detecting them," Breakdown said with a satisfied growl. "It's all Megatron's fault anyway. He called us; he offlined them. I'd love to be able to get some revenge even though I know Optimus Prime doesn't like mecha thinking that way."

"You Breakdown have cause," Swoop disagreed even as he reached over and patted Breakdown's shoulder. It was obvious he'd learned how to control his strength working in here. 

"Optimus doesn't like many things mecha think or do. It doesn't always make those things wrong," First Aid gave the closest thing to an endorsement as his own morals allowed. "His designation says a great deal about him. More than it does for most mecha."

"Mine's pretty self-explanatory," Breakdown actually snickered allowing himself a bit of comfort from Swoop and First Aid. If they thought he had reason to be angry at Megatron it was two more mecha on his side. Two mecha who understood that talking to him without staring was much less stressful for him. "I'm almost always on the edge of a physical or mental breakdown."

"It should be much better now. Ratchet repaired a great deal of damage," First Aid went into full medic mode. "Red Alert faces many of the same issues, as does Prowl to a lesser extent. If you come in for your scheduled maintenance we can at least keep the physical breakdowns from happening."

"I've got a chance at something normal now that I know what normal is," Breakdown gave a small dark chuckle. Figures he'd have his best chance at a normal existence after having four mechs torn from his spark. What was he going to have to lose to keep this new reality? He'd pay it almost whatever the cost. After all, he'd already lost everything once. What could they demand that was worse than what he'd already endured and survived?

"Good. You Breakdown deserve a good existence," Swoop said more strongly than his pat on Breakdown's shoulder. "Them Autobots not perfect. Them Autobots good mechs."

They both instinctively stilled when First Aid went tense. Not a sound or movement escaped either until the full medic huffed and relaxed. "Hot Spot wants to know how you feel about being kicked into a Decepticon if your field is charged up."

"Which one?" Breakdown responded immediately perking up at the idea.

"Given it would probably be Defensor doing the kicking, likely Devastator or Bruticus," First Aid surrendered at the tactic being accepted. "Or Soundwave or Megatron. Or whoever is the greatest threat at the moment."

"All acceptable targets," Breakdown agreed with a vicious grin. "What brought this up?"

"Me Swoop think pinball," Swoop replied with an equally vicious grin.

"Streetwise was watching rugby, Blades your pinball game, I was thinking about how your shielding works and Hot Spot put it together," First Aid rattled off the collaboration of floating thoughts on their gestalt bond like the normal thing it was to him.

"Sounds like a good way to plan," Breakdown flickered his optics in a bit of jealousy having rarely had that experience with his own lost gestalt. Motormaster had rarely cared about what they noticed unless it furthered his own personal agenda. Still, the times they had synced like that had been some of the biggest bonding moments they'd had as a team. He'd always wished they were more common.

First Aid hummed, then nodded. "It probably is. I never really thought about it. We came on line this way."

The door to medical swooshed open for Ratchet's alt mode.

"Get over here an unload Hound. We have more work to do," Ratchet ordered and got immediate compliance from First Aid.

"Him Ratchet not mean us," Swoop said quietly.

"Him calling me over to help with a medical procedure would mean that everyone else was incapacitated," Breakdown agreed. "I'll do what I can but he's a real medic and way beyond my capacities." 

Swoop could only nod. He knew he was only called to repair someone when he managed to beg for it or it was his fellow Dinobots. That might change with Breakdown since he seemed to be getting as close to comfortable with Swoop as he was with anyone else. They went back to working on dissembling, assembling and using the tools until the shift ended.

Both mechs looked up as the twins entered the area obviously looking around for him. At least they didn't look like they needed any repairs although that didn't always mean anything with those two.

"Swoop! You teaching Breakdown everything you know?" Sideswipe called out as they headed over.

Breakdown couldn't hear any underlying mocking tones in the twin's voice. Apparently playing with the Dinobots was getting them on friendlier terms. He was glad for it. He liked how the Dinobots thought, how straightforward they were. No one had to guess what one of them was thinking. They made it clear. Keeping them happy was easy too. Just play a few games of pinball and don't insult them. Common sense stuff really.

"Yes. Him Breakdown learn fast," Swoop nodded.

"Ready to go, Breaky?" Sideswipe grinned at his charge.

Breakdown gave Sideswipe a halfhearted glare at the nickname even as he quickly finished putting away his tools. He reminded himself that Sideswipe meant the nickname as a mark of affection. Getting the twins out of medical without having any kind of confrontation with Ratchet would be a good thing in his processor. It wasn't like Ratchet had expressed any interest in him before or since for interfacing. Although having a medic willing to repair him would have been reason enough to approach him in the Decepticons. The medic had been acting odd at times ever since he'd started his protection deal with Ironhide. He'd made a few muttered comments about the twins and glancing over at Breakdown while doing it. Breakdown wasn't certain why that deal had ticked off the medic so much or why he was annoyed with the twins. Better to hightail it before trouble started. 

"Ready," Breakdown said and stood to hurry them out without looking like he was hurrying or in charge in any way. Fortunately the twins seemed quite willing to go along with the escape plan.

"Bye," Swoop called. "Him Grimlock set up time for more pinball."

"Sounds good," Breakdown said back as he hustled out the door. 

"How was shift?" Sideswipe asked once they were out of audial range.

"Good. Ratchet got called away but Swoop took over teaching me the basics," Breakdown shifted a bit. "I'm getting on the good side of the Dinobots. Sounds like a win in my book." 

"They're always good ones to have like you," Sideswipe grinned, his field bright with approval. "Though I'm sure they already like you. You're about the only mech here they can play with."

"That's what Swoop said," Breakdown agreed glancing around habitually to check for spies and new cameras as they walked. Having Red Alert's cameras on him all the time got a little grating, but at least he understood why the Security Director wanted to watch him and probably would for the rest of his time in the Ark. "How was your monitor shifts? Anything exciting happening you can pass along to me?" 

"I wouldn't call it exciting but someone who knew Prowl way back when called and wanted to meet for drinks, and Prowl _agreed_ ," Sideswipe was entirely too gleeful at the trivia for it not to matter.

"Prowl never drinks, or attends parties, or do much of anything fun," Sunstreaker added.

"Are they meeting here? Are we certain it's an old friend?" Breakdown asked cautiously. Prowl was one of the officers standing up for him, and he didn't want anything to happen to him. On the other hand, if this was something positive they should try to help out. 

"I think so. I only understood a few words. My Praxian's not very good," Sideswipe admitted. "Prowl seemed certain enough to agree to meet. How much trouble can one stranger cause here? Red'll have them under constant watch and Prowl's no slouch in a fight."

"You're right. There's no reason to be worried about one of the officers whose been the most supportive of me integrating and defended me without asking for payment. Is there a way we can make things a little nicer for him for the meeting? I could find a way to pay you back for making him a few of the treats he likes," Breakdown started rambling as he walked. "I know where there are some nickel and copper deposits the humans aren't mining. I probably can't go directly but I could give directions you could pass on to Trailbreaker and Beachomber. They might go for it in trade for some treats or a shift swap." 

"Let me do a little recon on this, find out a few more details. We can make it go well if they're friends," Sideswipe promised. "You're right though, Prowl's a good officer. Pain in the aft on occasion, but a good one."

"Staying on his good side is a good thing. Especially since he is in charge of discipline. You don't want those mecha mad at you," Breakdown agreed as he pressed briefly against the friendlier of the twins. "You might want to be careful how you offer though so he doesn't think it's a prank. Skywarp had such a reputation for pranks no one would accept anything he offered unless they were a Seeker. Even then the Coneheads used to triple-check things." 

"I'm good at that line, mostly because my pranks aren't that kind, and I have a functional processor. I set off glitter bombs, change paint colors, drop feathers and the like. Information and invites are always legit," Sideswipe promised as they entered their quarters.

"Good. Malicious pranks get too many enemies for you and your allies. Dragstrip never figured that out and wouldn't listen no matter how many times I warned him," Breakdown sighed and relaxed a bit now that he was back in their semi-secure domicile. He'd be happier if Ironhide had connected quarters, but at least their leader was close enough to probably hear any trouble. It wasn't like the twins were quiet during a fight. Pushing aside any hesitation he offered, "You want me to break out any snacks? I think there are still a few of those granite sandwiches around." 

"Sure," Sideswipe grinned and went to set out the gaming system.

"You going to play with us or draw for a while?" Breakdown asked Sunstreaker as he grabbed the treats and setting them next to the artist. They'd found that if he brought up the idea he could tolerate the attention for much longer than if it was sprung on him. 

"I'll sketch," Sunstreaker quickly went to get his artpad.

"You're getting so much better at tolerating his watching," Sideswipe's voice was quiet but full of pride and thanks.

"He's keeping an optic out for us while we're relaxing," Breakdown explained how he justified it when his paranoia started to quibble at the attention. "It also helps that he stops when I get too twitchy about the attention." Really the twins were going out of their way to accommodate him and his insecurities. 

"True," Sideswipe agreed. It was true too, even if they didn't often think of it that way. He tossed Breakdown the second controller after the snack was put down.

The two of them played for a while while Sunstreaker sat back and sketched. It was familiar and comforting in a way Breakdown wouldn't have believed possible if anyone had suggested it before his arrival. They weren't the same as Wildrider, Dead End or Dragstrip and never would be. They were a bit better though a traitorous part of his processor added. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't try to get him in trouble with the officers. They didn't even ask for as much for the protection they gave for far less reason than his gestalt had. His gestalt had to protect him. These two, they didn't have to. Just like Prowl didn't have to. Like Ratchet didn't have to keep him so well repaired. Like Prime didn't have to share the good energon.

Thanking Prime and Prowl was actually easy even though he knew they didn't want to interface with him. Being a good worker and following the rules seemed to be enough to satisfy them although offering treats might be accepted as well. Learning to help out in medical and keeping himself out of trouble were a way to start paying Ratchet back.

The twins were a different story. They were personally taking care of him, protecting him and helping him without any reward. They were his team; just like Ironhide. He couldn't accept a protection deal with them, but he could start treating them like they were team. He figured Sideswipe was interested. Sunstreaker might be. They probably came together but Sideswipe was the easier one to talk to.

When they paused to take a small snack break as the new game loaded, he worked up the nerve to take the opportunity and ask, "Are either or both of you interesting in interfacing tonight? No spark play or hardlining involved." 

"I'm always game for pleasure," Sideswipe was suddenly quite focused on Breakdown.

"Yeah. I'm interested," Sunstreaker perked up. Almost no one offered interest in _him_ without Sideswipe pressing it.

"Do you prefer spike or valve?" Breakdown asked Sunstreaker focusing on the one that seemed surprised by the offer. "Or do you like to use one then the other?" 

"Spike," Sunstreaker said firmly. "Sides is more flexible on that."

"Yeah, that trauma just didn't stick for me," Sideswipe agreed.

"I'm fine with valve play so this should work out well," Breakdown said easily shifting into the same mindset he used with Ironhide. "How do we want to begin? Should I suck you off or start with Sideswipe? I don't know if I can fit both of you in my mouth, but I know my valve can handle two spikes." 

Both sets of optics brightened. "Would love to sandwich you between us," Sideswipe rumbled. "Almost no one is comfortable with that."

"Yeah. Who'd you like to face?" Sunstreaker asked as he stood to join them and stroked Breakdown's shoulder.

"Whoever is willing to be kissed the most although I can twist around to glossa-tangle with whoever is behind. I might need a little prep to take you both at once since I'm a bit out of practice," Breakdown said cheerfully as he reached out to both with a hand to lightly stroke each along an available shin. He tried not to leave any marks although that would definitely change once they were 'facing. 

"Oh, we'll definitely make sure you're well-prepped," Sideswipe promised eagerly and stood to coax Breakdown to his pedes. "I'm the one that likes kissing more and I know a _really_ fun game to get you loosened up."

Breakdown followed Sideswipe's lead even as he gave Sunstreaker a coy look. He did not want to bring them into his sanctuary so he said, "Here or in your berth? I'm game either way. Does Sunstreaker want to draw while you play or does he want to join in immediately?"

"Oh, I'll join in. I know what Sides has in mind and it's very much worth watching," Sunstreaker rumbled eagerly as Sideswipe lead them to the twin's berth.

The amount of time the twins had put into building trust was evident as he didn't quake being between them like this. There was one other thing he could do to help keep his anxiety in at bay. He whispered, "Please leave the door open." 

"Sure," Sideswipe agreed readily. "Nobody'll be angry if you need to bolt. Now on the berth with your aft up." He ordered and went to a cabinet by his still.

Breakdown climbed up onto the berth from the end and made his way up towards the middle making certain to move as seductively as he could. For some reason this reminded him more of being with his gestalt than his pleasant times with Ironhide and even when they'd added Chromia had done. Probably because Ironhide was so much kinder and more reasonable than Motormaster had ever been. 

Sunstreaker was on the berth too, lounging to one side with his spike cover open but his spike still completely within its housing. He felt Sideswipe join them and the warm, only mildly aroused field as the red hellion rubbed Breakdown's hip. 

"Open up," Sideswipe rubbed Breakdown's valve cover with his thumb.

Breakdown obliged by snapping the valve cover open displaying himself to Sideswipe while keeping his spike concealed. He couldn't make himself turn and look at Sunstreaker knowing those optics would be glued to them so he arched his neck so his head was looking at the top of the berth. He wasn't certain what the frontliner was going to do to arouse him. Maybe play for a while before sliding his spike in deep? He'd have to try to put on a good show for Sunstreaker.

He felt Sideswipe's fingers circle his valve rim, gentle and teasing, until there was a touch of pleasure in the responding platelets and pressed back into the touches. The lack of restraints seeming to indicate that the twins wanted a mobile partner at least until he got sandwiched. He was honestly relieved that none of his current team had suggested tying him up or restraining him yet. His charge wasn't high enough to warrant a moan yet, but he did put a bit of a squirm into his movements as the teasing continued. Sideswipe was trying to make him slick, just like Ironhide did, and he was not about to discourage this gift of kindness.

While the fingers continued a wide, soft and slick object began to lave against his opening. It didn't feel quite like when any of the others had consented to lick him. This was actually as if Sideswipe was enjoying the act itself not just tolerating it until he could get to his own satisfaction. It made him wonder if there were ways to make it more enjoyable if he did it for his team. Maybe mecha got enhancements there like they did to spikes and valves? Would such a thing even be possible? The thought diverted his attention momentarily, and he twisted his head around to try to see exactly what Sideswipe was doing to him. 

From this angle it looked like the usual but it felt better than usual and eventually earned a moan as lubricant began to ooze from him for real. Sideswipe's glossa drew back and his fingers pressed something square and tingling into his valve and then pushed it further in. The tingling felt strangely good even as a small part of his processor cried out against anything strange going into such a vulnerable place. Throwing some pants in both because it was truly enjoyable and to give Sunstreaker a bit more of a show, he asked "What...are...you doing?" 

"I'm going to eat a goody out of you," Sideswipe purred before going to work pressing his glossa in deep and lapping up as much as he could as the goody melted.

Breakdown's processor almost stuttered at the idea even as his valve spasmed at the decadence of it. Having enough fuel around to save it to use for something like this? It had never even occurred to him although now he was imagining what he could do to one of his team. He almost suggested that he could do the same to Sunstreaker, but he didn't want to suggest anything super messy that might ruin the other mech's mood. He did seem to be enjoying the show if the peeks Breakdown was throwing his way were any indication. The mech's bright yellow and black spike was out and fully pressurized and his field was hot. 

"Can I watch you stroke yourself?" Breakdown asked breathlessly optics locked on the exposed spike even as he shifted and moaned as Sideswipe continued to draw pleasure out of his valve with his talented glossa. 

"Yes," Sunstreaker moaned and briefly tore his gaze from his brother to look at Breakdown before focusing on the show that he really wanted. He let his hand drift to his spike and stroked himself lightly to put on a show without getting himself too wound up to perform well later.

Having visual proof that Sunstreaker was enjoying watching the pair helped ease the bit of creeping discomfort at being watched. At least he knew that Sunstreaker's optics were probably glued to his valve and Sideswipe's glossa instead of Breakdown's own face. Knowing Sunstreaker was going to join them momentarily also helped. He didn't think he could handle being watched by anyone else at this moment. 

The pleasure building in his valve suddenly withdrew but was replaced by three fingers before he could make a sound of objection. This feeling he knew intimately; being stretched to take two was a bit of a luxury he suspected would be a standard from now on. He was determined to never forget that this care didn't have to happen. According to Ironhide's instructions anyone who didn't want to do this was someone he should refuse to interface with given their disrespect for him. This kind of preparation was a sign that he was respected and valued by his partners. Sideswipe was determined to give him pleasure, and Sunstreaker was waiting patiently for Breakdown to be ready for him. With a twist of his hips he pushed a bit further back on Sideswipe's fingers and let out a short cry of pleasure when the fingers spread to stretch and rub against his lining. He could feel all five fingers inside his valve now, moving in and out.

"Feel ready?" Sideswipe asked in a voice rough with arousal.

"Ready for Sunstreaker to slide his spike into my valve with your fingers and then have you press your spike in with him," Breakdown replied pressing even harder against Sideswipe's fingers. "If I lift up a bit you could slide under me and let Sunstreaker come up behind me." 

The twins gave each other a glance, then nodded.

"We can do that," Sideswipe said as he shifted to wiggle under Breakdown and slid an arm down so he could press his fingers into the quivering valve. Sunstreaker wasted no time in pressing into the already half-full valve.

"Thank you," Breakdown gasped out arching briefly as he was filled before leaning down to kiss Sideswipe, opening his mouth wide to let his glossa slide along the tempting lips before slipping to the waiting mouth. Fingers, spike and glossa...Breakdown was getting filled from almost every comfortable angle. He was certain two spikes was going to feel amazing, but it felt so good to have fingers rubbing against platelets while the spike pressed against interior nodes. He was definitely going to wait for both spikes before activating his valve though. He hoped that was something that was going to drive the twins' wild with pleasure. 

Sideswipe held out as long as he could stand feeling Sunstreaker's spike rub against his fingers before he pulled them out and grabbed Breakdown's hips to hold him at the right place and angle to press into a space that wasn't really designed for two spikes but knew it well.

The valve may not have been designed for two spikes but the mech knew how to shift small portions of his frame to make the second entry easier than it could have been otherwise. It took two careful thrusts from the twins to finally sheath both spikes completely inside Breakdown who let out a small shout of delight as they filled him. This was something he'd been missing and was finally experiencing again. The smooth motions of the pair were familiar too. Breakdown might have been new to them but this act and each other were long familiar as they rocked in tandem; one pulling out as the other pushed in, then shifting to thrust together a few times before going back to moving in opposite directions.

It was quickly building his charge even as he struggled to focus on kissing and stroking Sideswipe's head and shoulders. A nip to his neck during one of Sunstreaker's thrusts resulted in a valve spasm drawing a small cry from both twins. One of the times the twins were thrusting in unison Breakdown activated his valve rings trying to time them to sync with the thrusts. 

Sunstreaker was the first to roar and pump crackling transfluid deep into Breakdown. His twin was barely a thrust behind him. Feeling both twins overload first gave Breakdown a wash of satisfaction as his own systems cascaded shortly behind them. He didn't know if he was the first to outlast them like this, but he was definitely going to try to do it as often as possible. Whether the twins would view it as a challenge the way Ironhide did remained to be seen. 

Right now they simply teeked sated, content and relaxed as they found their coordination again.

"What you had in mind?" Sideswipe purred as he stroked Breakdown's back while Sunstreaker gently pulled out. "Cause it was awesome for us."

"Yeah," Breakdown agreed happily even as he mentally prepared for being told to go back to his own berth. Just because the twins had enjoyed interfacing with him didn't mean they'd let him stay here where there were protective optics to watch out for trouble. 

"Good," Sunstreaker said as he flopped down next to them and relaxed. "You don't have to stay but you're welcome to."

Breakdown flickered a glance at Sideswipe who seemed pleased that Sunstreaker had made the offer. There were two fields surrounding him, protecting him for the isolation and giving him the small flicker of hope that he might really have a team again not just the fantasy he'd been building in his processor. 

"Just one rule: do not touch Sunstreaker until he's coherent," Sideswipe was suddenly very serious.

"Gotcha," Breakdown replied with as much seriousness before addressing Sunstreaker. He had no doubt that the berserker could be dangerous if startled when vulnerable. "Should I switch to Sideswipe's side away from you? Or is field contact going to be sufficient warning during recharge if I don't move?" 

"You're fine in the middle and fields are enough. Just no hands on me before I've booted," Sunstreaker elaborated. "If an alarm goes off just freeze until we're out of the room. I honestly have no idea what happens until after the battle high fades."

"Yeah, we might have our optics on and look coordinated but a battle alert gets us there long before actual thinking or memory turns on," Sideswipe agreed with a thankful brush against Sunstreaker's spark for thinking of it. "It's not likely but stuff happens. Honestly that's a good reflex anytime you're in doubt about how sane either of us are. Berserkers don't care about spark signatures, fields or optic light. It's movement that triggers it by every account. No movement means no target."

"Thanks for the warning and reminder. There were berserkers in the Cons but I never recharged with them," Breakdown said settling down between them and making certain to lock his hands under his helm. It was a little nerve-wracking but it sounded like the twins would take care of any potential attackers before he had to worry. "I tried to stay out of their way although my force field used to give me a bit of a safety measure if I did flinch when one was passing." 

"We're not that bad," Sunstreaker promised as he let an arm rest over Breakdown to touch his brother.

"Yeah, if you want to get up just say my designation until I reply," Sideswipe added. "It'll take a klik but if you're calm about it I'll boot up calm."

"Sounds good," Breakdown agreed as he settled in further and began to try to settle into recharge.

* * *

Breakdown couldn't believe it had taken almost a year for Megatron to finally attack the Ark itself. It looked like he'd brought everyone to attack this time. The Aerialbots, Swoop and a handful of others were currently chasing the Seekers through the sky while Omega Supreme tackled Devastator. Breakdown had spent the first part of the battle inside until Prowl called him to go grab an injured Huffer and haul him back to Wheeljack and Hoist who were playing triage since Swoop was needed to help fight off the Seekers, First Aid was busy with Defensor keeping Bruticus busy on the ground and Ratchet was deep inside the Ark with the critical patients. 

It was the largest battle Breakdown could recall. Even so didn't hesitate to follow Prowl's level-voiced order or pause anywhere on his way to his target to gawk at the organized chaos that was the two armies that knew each other well in full combat. He reached Huffer, grabbed him and was at the medics before he let himself indulge in looking over the battlefield and feel the small pang of regret at not being involved. He wished he could be out there fighting with the twins but he knew from his time training with Ironhide that he wasn't ready yet. He was still habitually trying to fight as if his lost gestalt was still there. Something about the battle sounds were bothering him more than usual. Taking a bit he looked around trying to find what was bothering him.

Ironhide was protecting Optimus Prime who was headed towards Megatron who for once wasn't actually paying attention to the Prime. The Decepticon leader was instead focusing on the primary force that keep the Seekers from completely dominating the field: Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. The powerful weapon on his arm began to glow as its charge built, readying to fire.

Something snapped in Breakdown as he realized what was about to happen. He was not going to lose another team to that monster. He transformed and charged off into the battlefield headed away from Prime in the only way he could possibly think of to take out the Decepticon warlord. ::Grimlock! Defensor! Pinball!:: 

The T-rex alt turned, located him and set up to swipe as hard he could with his tail right into line for Defensor to add momentum and direction with a kick. It might be the first time they'd used this on the battlefield, but almost everyone had played at least once. Prowl recognized Breakdown's target and immediately warned Hound who smoothly darted out of the way just as Breakdown sailed passed him. In the small part of himself that wasn't preparing for the impact that would nearly overcharge his field and what was likely to happen after Megatron got back on his pedes Breakdown was grateful for Prowl accepting his actions. The officer had every right to be angry over a nobot giving orders. As long as the twins survived Breakdown would take whatever punishment was coming from Prowl for letting him do this.

Defensor's kick sent Breakdown straight between Bruticus's legs and directly at Megatron's back. Soundwave's warning didn't quite reach Megatron in time or the warlord didn't think the Stunticon was worth worrying about since they'd been so ineffective when Motormaster offlined. He regretted that decision as Breakdown slammed into his right leg, knocked him to his back and kept on going. He didn't see what he hit that angled him back towards Megatron as the mech was getting back to his pedes but he was glad for it when he slammed right into the broad, flat back and its incredibly thick armor.

Megatron was knocked flat on his chestplate and his head was embedded in the dirt. Breakdown spun off and wound up bouncing off two large boulders and coming to a stop against a third. It took him a moment to orientate and saw enough to realize he'd gotten a retreat called when Megatron went face down. The Seekers were the first to flee as Air Raid and Fireflight chased them for a bit before reluctantly following Silverbolt's orders and returning to the Ark's airspace. Breakdown watched Blitzwing take off. He wanted to shoot the triplechanger but probably couldn't have hit given how his vision was flickering even if he had a sufficient gun. 

"That was incredible," a grinning face in front of him soon stabilized enough to recognize as Sideswipe and the warrior extended a hand to help him stand.

"They all gone?" Breakdown asked anxiously trying to look around for any more trouble even though the lack of aggression in Sideswipe indicated the battle was probably over. 

"Yeah, they're gone and we're not thanks to you and your quick thinking," Sideswipe grinned at him eagerly.

"Good job," Sunstreaker grunted as Breakdown was pulled to his pedes.

"Time to let Ratchet check us over and put us in the repair queue," Sideswipe was already walking off. 

Breakdown reflexively grabbed Sunstreaker's arm to steady himself. Realizing what he had done he started to let go, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. We'll all need a touch-up after this anyway," Sunstreaker replied gruffly.

Breakdown felt relief for a brief moment before there were too many mecha around him. It took a fraction too long to realize it was the Protectobots.

"Great idea with that pinball," Blades grinned but pointedly didn't touch.

On each side of him the fields of the twins were continuing to calm as First Aid claimed them all, his team and the three warriors, for post-battle checks that started with Breakdown. 

"You managed to rattle your processor fairly hard but it doesn't look like there is any permanent damage from ramming Megatron like that. We'll get your armor straightened out after the critical cases are resolved," First Aid announced as he finished cataloging the dents and scrapes on Breakdown's frame and shifted his attention to Sunstreaker. 

"Nothing unusual," Breakdown promised as he tried to take in the subtle and not-so subtle claims on him. It wasn't at all what he'd expected for breaking orders. 

"Good job," Ironhide said approvingly as he approached the group giving Hot Spot an approving nod. "Buckethead didn't know what hit him."

Breakdown grinned up at him. "Good."

"Me Grimlock think that good shot," the Dinobot said approvingly as he wandered past the group headed over to join Swoop who was working on Air Raid's wing. The Aerialbot's grumbling was muted probably due to Snarl looming behind Swoop watching the proceedings.

"It was a great shot," Sideswipe disagreed as he grinned over at Ironhide. "I bet Chromia will love hearing about it." 

"Oh she will," Ironhide chuckled. "Too bad it doesn't have broader applications."

"Him Trailbreaker have force field too," Grimlock commented absently.

"Different kind although it might be worth Wheeljack and Perceptor's time to figure out how to replicate Breakdown's field since it was so useful here," Sideswipe said with a grin. "You up for helping them? It might be a Sigma ability but some of them apparently can be replicated if you know how they work."

"Maybe?" Breakdown replied faint alarms chiming as he pondered being examined so closely. He didn't expect it to be like being handed over to Shockwave especially given Ironhide and the twins were so close, but the engineer's explosions were still unnerving. 

"Or just Perceptor," Sunstreaker grunted with a brief calculating look at Breakdown. "Do we _really_ want Wheeljack working on force fields?"

"Wheeljack could help work on the field generator system after Perceptor designs it," Breakdown offered, mindful that Grimlock didn't take insults toward the inventor lightly. "I know he's been busy with a project involving Skyfire."

"You always seem to know everything going on," Sideswipe said approvingly.

"It keeps me online," Breakdown agreed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Authors: Gatekat and fianna9  
> Fandom: Transformers G1  
> Relationships: Ironhide/Chromia, Ironhide/Breakdown, Chromia/Breakdown, Sideswipe/Sunstreaker, Breakdown/Sideswipe/Sunstreaker  
> Characters: Ironhide, Chromia, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Prowl, Red Alert, Breakdown  
> Additional Tags: femmes with spikes
> 
> From way back in 2014  
> <https://tfanonkink.dreamwidth.org/26088.html?thread=14528232#cmt14528232>
> 
> Megatron's finally gone off the deep end, and killed most of the Stunticons in a fit of pique. Breakdown manages to evade the slaughter and makes his way to the Ark, figuring that at worst, the Autobots will just put him out of his misery.
> 
> At first, everyone's unsure about what to do with the ex-Con, but soon Breakdown starts to grow closer with the resident Lambo twins. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker find a kindred spirit in the other Lambo, since losing a brother is a situation they've feared all through the war, and Breakdown feels more at home with the rough-edged frontliners than the other Autobots who are treating him with kid gloves. And apparently, having two aggressively protective frontliners watching his back is good for Breakdown's paranoid glitch. Just as good as having a more passive third cushioning the clash of their dominant egoes is for the twins.  
> Things take a turn towards the berth, and Breakdown finds out that it turns him on something fierce to have a partner who is strong enough to hold him down and take what they want, but careful enough not to hurt him in the process. The twins in turn are ecstatic to have finally found a mech who doesn't mind being passed back and forth between two dominant/possessive alpha mechs.


End file.
